Appa, Yip Yip! New ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Movie to Release in Theaters

Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to theaters with its very first feature length animated film, focusing on Aang and his friends. The film is based on the animated series that ran on Nickelodeon for 3 seasons beginning in 2005. Set in an Asian-inspired fantasy world, the series follows 12-year-old Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), the current Avatar and last member of his nation, the Air nomads. With the help of his friends, Sokka (Jack De Sana), Katara (Mae Whitman), and Toph (Michaela Jill Murphey), he must stop the Fire Nation’s war against the other nations.

The series received an extremely positive reception and gained widespread critical acclaim. In fact, some consider it one of the best animated TV series of all time. As a result, Avatar: The Last Airbender grew into a successful multimedia franchise. The franchise encompasses the animated series, a live-action film, and numerous comics, books, video games, and soundtracks. Additionally, Netflix is gearing up to expand the franchise with a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series.

So far, Avatar: The Last Airbender has boasted only one theatrical film – the 2010 film The Last Airbender. The film was directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan and was a live-action adaption of the beloved series. However, the notorious film went down in history for being one of the worst films ever made. The actors and actresses were badly miscast, it was unfaithful to the source material, there were numerous plot holes, and everything from screenplay to cinematography was poorly done. The failure of The Last Airbender always makes us leery any time talk begins of another Avatar: The Last Airbender film, but this upcoming animated film looks promising.

Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film

As confirmed at Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s SDCC panel, an animated Avatar: The Last Airbender film is coming to theaters and will release in 2024. Now, we’ve known since 2021 that Paramount and Nickelodeon were developing three animated theatrical Avatar: The Last Airbender films. However, we didn’t know the first of these films would be hitting theaters as early as 2024. Meanwhile, the topic of the first film was also revealed at SDCC.

Janet Varney, who voiced Korra, in the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel series, The Legend of Korra, dropped the exciting announcement. After numerous rumors and much speculation, she finally confirmed that the first film will focus on Aang and his friends as young adults. The reveal was quite exciting, as many didn’t know what to expect from the films. Many were anticipating the films might have centered around past Avatars and delved into the pre-Aang era. However, instead, it will be examining our original Avatar: The Last Airbender characters during a period of their lives we’ve never seen them in before. Check out the announcement below:

(featured image: Nickelodeon)