We’ve known for some time that M. Night Shyamalan would follow The Happening with a take on the American pseudo-anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. And just to remind us that we know and care about the effort he’s putting forth, Variety reports that Paramount is staking out a date: July 2, 2010. Since that’s only a couple months after James Cameron’s own Avatar will hit DVD (assuming it makes the Dec 18, 2009 release date) Paramount has shortened the title to a more awkward The Last Airbender.
(Side note: the trade makes no mention of this film being the first of three; Shyamalan had discussed the project as a film trilogy when speaking about it last year.)
Shyamalan, for his part, is approaching the project with characteristic humility and reservation. “In ‘The Last Airbender,’ I see an opportunity to make a live-action version of a Miyazaki film,” he tells Variety.
The creators of Avatar, which in this incarnation will follow “a young hero who has the ability to manipulate the elements and stop a ruthless nation from destroying the three other nations” have acknowledged the influence of Miyazaki, but they also claim Shaolin Soccer as a touchstone. There’s probably no room for Shyamalan to properly honor the artistry of Miyazaki and Stephen Chow in the same feature, so I can see why he’d choose to concentrate on the easy target.
11 comments
I would cast michael clarke duncan in the lead role.
Avatar the last airbender is kind of overrated since it's the last good cartoon left on television (imagine Rufio from hook kicking everyone's ass for 30 minutes and some obvious heros journey themes tossed in there and you'll get it.) I'd much prefer a samurai jack movie we've been promised since the show was canceled, giving a middle finger to all the people who invested time in the series. Ah, the 90s and early 00s, better times…
I'm still waiting for that live-action Urotsukidoji we were promised a long time ago.
I want that Urotsukidoji live action film too…along with action figures, and artwork folders for my trapper keeper. Any studio that adapted that would have a merchandising treasure trove on their hands.
I saw this once, I think. It did not strike me as a cinematic goldmine of opportunity.
Why does everyone talk about their films being a trilogy? We don't need that shit, seriously. Just do one film and worry about sequals later. Maybe I'm being a tad to objective, but I'm just irritated after reading about that whole "Death Walks the Streets" scam.
You Anime dorks will watch any piece of shit and find a way to justify it.
The reason they talk about this as a trilogy is the series itself is going to finish after it's third (current) season. From what I understand, the movies will each cover a season of the series.
The series itself isn't that bad, it has it's childish moments at times, but I appreciate that they have a specific story to tell and a set finish point for it. It really aids in the storytelling and keeps it from being as drawn out as some other series…and my post.
"I see an opportunity to make a live-action version of a Miyazaki film" Ugh. Isn't that what del Torro did with Pan's Labyrinth, but you know, with fascists?
But what's the twist ending? That it's all happening in the mind of some wheelchair-bound "Timmagh!!" type of kid?
I think it would be pretty cool to see a trilogy out of the Avatar series. As for trilogies in general, who cares if they're good? As for fumeros comment about the Death Walks the Streets films, they weren't a scam but one of the producers was and drug the entire cast and crew threw the ringer in the process.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.