Avatar the Last Airbender has to be America’s most popular cartoon show. Now a days, many American entertainment companies don’t focus much on 2D animation. Disney for example has been investing more into 3D animation like Toy Story and has bought out studios and companies, slowly becoming a entertainment giant. 15 years after its release in 2005, Avatar the Last Airbender is still super popular. One of the most popular cartoon shows in America.
While Anime leads the way to 2D animation (America is no longer number one) many anime fans love Avatar Last Airbender as well mainly because of its art style that is similar to anime and its deep and meaningful story telling.
The creators themselves love the show so much they just continue to comeback with more projects. If its not a new series then it is a movie. If not a movie then a comic book series or novel.
Michael Danteh DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of Avatar The Last Airbender have decided to return to make an animated movie for the franchise. Not only is this great news for the fans but it feels good to have more Avatar after seeing so many shows and movies coming from America that continue to fail and are full of political agendas.
However, there is more to this return. A strong reason as to why they decided to make an Avatar movie and even start an Avatar studios for Nickelodeon. Lets find out.
Why They Made The Decision For An Avatar Animated Movie
As you probably already know if you are a long time Avatar fan is that Netflix was producing a Avatar The Last Airbender live action movie along with the creators, Mike and Bryan. However, there was a bit of drama in the choosing of actors for the characters.
So here is the short version of the story:
Netflix wanted the main characters to be white or better said, Caucasian. Mike and Bryan wanted the live action series to be true to the cultures that inspired it and wanted Asian actors (I mean it makes sense). Netflix insisted on having white lead actors but the original creators refused and decided to part ways with Netflix.
They were losing creative freedom and decided to create their own project instead of bending over for Netflix (I am sorry I just had to add). There was so much demand for Avatar The Last Airbender as well as Legend of Korra (The Avatar world in general) so Mike and Bryan decided to give the people what they wanted and so Avatar Studio was born.
By the way make sure to check out Mike’ blog
Avatar Studios
I am obsessed with Avatar the Last Airbender so I was so happy to hear that there was going to be an Avatar Studios. This studio was made to create future movies, tv series and everything related to the Avatar world.
Mike and Bryan are going to be making content for both Nickelodeon and the streaming platform Paramount Plus (seriously they couldn’t think of a better name for a streaming service).
Also, please do not misunderstand, Mike and Bryan will not be doing all the work. Of course they will hire people to work on these projects and movies. I assume that they will also work on a couple of video games of Avatar The Last Airbender. Which I find funny because after 15 years there has not been a good Avatar video game. Most of them suck.
Mike and Bryan will be using ideas and probably turn the comic books into episodes for the animated show on Nickelodeon and Paramount. Avatar The Last Airbender has about four comic book series published by the almighty Dark Horse.
- The Search
- The Promise
- North and South
- Imbalance
- Legend of Kyoshi (novel)
There is so much potential for this because they can take something like the Legend of Kyoshi and make a movie out of it. They can make episodes of previous Avatars. They can make episodes about Azula and what happened with her after the fire lord was defeated.
The Future Of Avatar The Last Airbender
Avatar the Last Airbender franchise will continue to expand. Much like Star Wars, its fans are loyal (until Disney messed it up) and will follow the show for decades. As long as the creators continue to make quality episodes with deep story telling, it will remain popular.
With its own studio, expect to see more than just movies and animated series from Avatar The Last Airbender. Much like Harry Potter, there will be video games made as well toys, tabletop games and of course merchandise.
Also this could be an opportunity for Avatar The Last Airbender to expand overseas. Besides, South America, Avatar is not very popular in Asian. I always wondered why it never gained popularity in Japan and the reason is because, Nickelodeon is just not wide in Japan. Go to an anime convention in Japan and I guarantee that no one has ever heard of Avatar The Last Airbender (perhaps one or two people that watch American television) despite of its Asian influence.
This would be the next step for Avatar the Last Airbender, to go overseas to Japan, China, Korea and other countries that have not heard of the show. Many people have heard of Star Wars but not Avatar The Last Airbender which has anime quality art, animation and story telling unlike other crappy American cartoons. It really should be an anime.
What do you see in the future of the Avatar franchise? Comment below.
