In 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender arrived on Nickelodeon and its young target demographic was immediately hooked on its fantastical world of rich mythology. Fifteen years later, it hit Netflix and understandably, the platform opened it up to a whole new audience, with the show going on to top the charts on the streaming service and becoming one of the most-watched titles on there last year.
While the basic concept of Avatar should be familiar to anyone who even has just a passing interest in the fantasy genre, the depth of its themes and characters set it above many other animated shows of its kind and it’s managed to remain hugely popular and relevant to this day. Which is why Paramount intends to expand the property with an animated movie.
Deadline reports that a new animated feature film is in the works and it’ll come to us from original series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The project will enter production later this year, with an aim to premiere in theaters, but aside from that, details are unfortunately quite scarce.
Announcing the news earlier today, Brian Robbins, President of ViacomCBS Kids & Family, said:
“Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra have grown at least ten-fold in popularity since their original hit runs on Nickelodeon, and Ramsey Naito and I are incredibly excited to have Mike and Bryan’s genius talent on board to helm a studio devoted to expanding their characters and world into new content and formats for fans everywhere.”
“Creator-driven stories and characters have long been the hallmarks of Nickelodeon, and Avatar Studios is a way to give Mike and Bryan the resources and runway to open up their imaginations even more and dive deeper into the action and mythology of Avatar as we simultaneously expand upon that world and the world of content available on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon,” he added.
Obviously, this is very exciting. Though we don’t know too much about what’s being planned just yet, the fact that the show’s original creators are involved should put fans’ minds at ease. And given that they know just how special the property is for so many millions of people, you can be sure that they’ll be bringing us something pretty exciting.
Tell us, though, what are you hoping to see from the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated movie? As always, let us know down below and watch this space for more.
