Steamy
AN: Mature audiences only.. Zuko and Katara decide to try out the new sauna and smut ensues.
Iroh had been trying to get Zuko to try the new sauna at the Fire Palace for a while now, only to be rebuked but his nephew. It was for old people, Zuko had said, scoffing at the 'health benefits' Iroh and his Pai Sho group had been experiencing. Whats more, he had installed it in one of the royal courtyards; a large stone structure, circular, with a pointed roof. The whole thing seemed to shimmer with steam when his uncle used it.
Katara, however, loved saunas, and when she learned that there was one at the palace, insisted that she and Zuko try it out. They were unofficially an item by this point. The servants knew they slept in the same room often, but to the world she was still resident ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe, and he was the Fire Lord. Nothing more.
So when they decided to go to the sauna together they had to do a little bit of sneaking around. Zuko went in first to make the coals hot and sat on high alert until Katara walked in wearing only a towel. She smiled at the heat and bent some water from the bucket onto the red coals. Steam enveloped them both and the whole area around them, so that they were merely shadows to one another.
'Are you going to keep that towel on Zuko?' she asked, indicating the one wrapped around his waist. He couldn't see her facial expression but could hear the suggestiveness in her voice.
'Only if you're keeping yours on,' came his raspy reply. She didn't respond. Instead, he felt a damp, heavy thing settle on his lap - her towel. He squinted at her, trying to see through the increasing steam but being only able to make out her outline. He felt her touch his hand and guided it to the curve of her hips. His fingers dug into her skin straight away, pulling her down on top of him so she straddled him on the sauna bench. He couldn't see? Fine. He could feel.
His rough towel still covered him but she could feel his hardness beneath as his hands ran up her sides to cup her breast. It was hot and steamy but that didn't stop a delicious shiver from running down her spine. She gasped as his lips seared her skin, down her neck, over her nipples.
Somewhere inside of her there was a spark of realisation; this was as close as they could both physically get to being completely surrounded by their elements while doing… things like this. Her element. All around her. She could have complete control of it in an instant, but wasn't it far more intoxicating to give herself up to it? The water in the air emboldened Katara, made her call out in ways she hadn't before, made her snatch his towel from between them and sink down on him without much ceremony. She just needed to be connected with him, needed him to feel the utter exhilaration of the moment.
Judging by his responding moan, he was right there with her.
They picked up a quick pace, slick bodies sliding against one another in the heat. Zuko was breathing out small licks of fire, watching them hiss with the water in the air, adding to the steam. His half lidded eyes registered the same passion in Katara - the way she moved matched his desperation, nails biting into his flesh unapologetically. Zuko's whole body warmed up, his element surrounding him on all sides and being channeled through his skin - it was too much and not enough at the same time.
Steam condensed to water on Katara's skin - to ice where it countered the heat of Zuko's hands - cold crystals were left on his skin as she drew her fingers down his back only to sizzle back to steam. It was a dance, this thing they were doing. A fast one that reminded her of the melting ice around large fires in the South Pole, that allowed her to sink into the same trance she would get from performing her Tribe's dances to the beating drums. They were setting their own rhythm and dancing with their elements, back and forth from fire to steam, from ice to steam, each one countering the other perfectly.
Katara could feel the pleasure bubbling up within her, and this time she didn't hold back from crying out as she tipped over the edge, throwing her head back. Her whole body shook in ecstasy and her hands flew up, condensing all the steam to snow. It fell on them softly catching in their hair, allowing Katara to see Zuko as he neared his peak, see how the fire overtook him as he followed her - he blew out a fountain of fire to the sky, and the snow dissolved in a hiss of released breath, clouding their visions again.
They were still for a moment, breathing heavily and not being able to draw in enough air from the steam around them.
'That was —'
'I know —'
Suddenly Zuko's body became rigid, Katara's followed suit as she heard the same voices becoming louder outside the sauna. Katara quickly grabbed her towel from next to Zuko on the bench and threw herself onto the opposite side. Zuko scrambled to find his towel too and settle it around him, trying to mop up the remains of their moment together.
The door burst open as Iroh walked in, followed by other men and women of the same age. The door opening sucked some of the steam out, allowing Iroh to see Zuko on one bench and Katara on the opposite one, both wrapped in towels.
'Why nephew! I'm so glad you two decided to try the sauna! Master Katara, you may not have met my friends - these are all lovely people with whom I play Pai Sho in these long afternoons.' Iroh went on to introduce them as they sat down all around the couple.
Katara could almost hear Zuko's teeth grinding from across the circle.
'What made you change your mind Zuko?' he asked once pleasantries were over.
'Katara convinced me,' replied Zuko, accusatorially.
'Ah yes! I have heard the Water Tribes are fans of saunas. Would you be so kind as to put some water on the coals for us? It is not every day we are lucky enough to have a water bender in our midst!' chattered Iroh, blasting the coals to make them warmer himself. Katara obliged and sat back, trying to relax, trying to think straight through the fog in her mind. It was as if the steam had penetrated her skull, her haze of pleasure not quite dissipated yet.
'For us, it is sometimes a spiritual experience,' she said finally to Iroh and the woman sitting next to him, thinking how this experience had also been rather.. spiritual. The others were discussing a particular set of moves in Pai Sho and trying in vain to include Zuko in the conversation. Although she couldn't see his face, she could imagine his expression.
'Indeed I'd imagine a sauna in the midst of all the ice would be an incredible experience. I must try some time!'
'You are welcome any time, Iroh,' replied Katara, smiling in spite of the situation.
But she did not feel well, and her heightened sense of her element was making her somewhat dizzy.
'I… I think perhaps I've had enough for today…' she said quietly, standing up and making sure her towel was tightly wrapped around her. She stepped down onto the floor but felt the blood rush from her head, faint in the heat.
Barely even thinking about it made the steam turn to snow inside the sauna, allowing her to breathe!
'Katara?' came Zuko's panicked voice.
'I'm sorry, I think I'm just a little short of air,' came her voice from a long way away.
'Zuko, I think Master Katara has had enough of the sauna,' said Iroh into the silence of the falling snow.
'I'll take her back to lie down,' replied Zuko, already hopping to the floor and catching Katara around the waist, pulling her outside where they sat in the surrounding courtyard, both breathing heavily, long hair stuck to their faces.
Katara recovered a moment and gave him a sheepish smile.
'Any way we can get a private one of those, Fire Lord?' she murmured, biting his ear playfully.
'I think I could pull some strings…'
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Avatar: The Last Airbender (2017)
Long ago, most nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Muslims attacked. Only the president, master of the greatest nation, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A couple months past, and my brother and I elected the new president, a Republican named Trump. And although his money making skills are great, he has alot to learn before he's ready to free anyone. But I believe, Trump can free the world.
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At this point, Netflix may officially be producing original content faster than even the most devoted fans can watch it, but that hasn’t slowed the streaming service down. Today, via the Twitter account @SeeWhatsNext (billed as “News about Netflix by Netflix from inside Netflix”), the company announced its plans for a new animated series, written by Futurama and Avatar: The Last Airbender screenwriter Aaron Ehasz. The show will be called The Dragon Prince, and will involve two princes and an elf assassin on a quest that sounds like something out of an epic fantasy role-playing campaign.
Avatar: The Last Airbender headwriter Aaron Ehasz has paired with Netflix for #TheDragonPrince, a new animated series about two human princes who forge an unlikely bond with the elfin assassin sent to kill them, embarking on an epic quest to bring peace to their warring lands. pic.twitter.com/HsIkyyD2fj
— See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) July 10, 2018Ehasz was a longtime writer and story editor on Futurama, both on its original run, which ended when Fox canceled the show in 2003, and on Comedy Central’s revival in 2009. Between Futurama runs, he was the head writer and co-executive producer of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, the anime-inspired animated series about a young martial artist destined to bring balance to the four elements, and the warring tribes of martial artists who control them. Director M. Night Shyamalan made the series into a widely loathed live-action film in 2010, but the original animated series remains highly respected, and it spun off into a four-season sequel series, The Legend of Korra, in 2012.
Ehasz’s co-creator on The Dragon Prince is Justin Richmond, a game developer on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and game director on Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. In 2017, the two men co-founded Wonderstorm, a multimedia studio working both on The Dragon Prince and on a related game set in the same world. According to the description for an upcoming Dragon Prince panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Giancarlo Volpe, a frequent director on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, is executive producer on the series.
“The thing I take away from Futurama and The Last Airbender is that the audience is very, very smart,” Ehasz told Polygon in a 2017 interview about Wonderstorm’s plans. “All the details, nuance, and things you build into a story and characters? There may be people who don’t appreciate it, but there are so many out there who do and are paying attention. We’re spending all this time on this series and game making sure those details feel right, and that there are things to discover, and that things beneath the surface are worth it because there are tons of people out there who want and deserve that. We need to make something good enough for them.”
The announcement of The Dragon Prince comes shortly on the heels of the latest news about another animated Netflix fantasy from someone heavily involved with Futurama: Matt Groening’s series Disenchantment is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on August 17th.
For Aaron Ehasz, Saturday mornings as an 11-year-old were defined by the mystical worlds of action heroes and giant robots, and few captured that sense of awe more than 1985’s Robotech. With a grand sense of scale and lengthy, emotional character arcs, the animated series stuck with him. Yet after devouring every minute of the show, Ehasz knew he wanted to continue exploring its world, and was disheartened to find that toys and other merchandise weren’t readily available. For a determined minor, this just wouldn’t stand.
“I would literally watch the credits and try to figure out who the producer was, and then I would try to call them,” Ehasz says. “I’m this kid calling from California. ‘Hey, where can I get these toys?’ Our friends would talk about rumors. ‘Oh, the toys are going to be available here if you get your mom to take you,’ and there was nothing. I was definitely aware of the ‘missing-ness’ of that part of the franchise as a kid.”
For Ehasz, whose writing career began on Futurama and snowballed into a head writer position on Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, it was easy to get lost in the ephemera of his favorite shows and movies — even if, in some cases, he had to make his own.
Now that love for exploring made-up universes is what Ehasz and collaborator Justin Richmond hope to take with them as co-founders of a new studio called Wonderstorm, with a goal of creating video games and expanded media simultaneously (along with co-founder Justin Santistevan, former head of finance for research and development at Riot, and investor MWM). Alongside a new game, which they are keeping under wraps for the time being, the team at Wonderstorm (considerably smaller than the likes of Naughty Dog or Riot Games) is working with Netflix to produce an original animated series set in the same world.
Richmond, who led the development of Uncharted 2’s multiplayer and subsequently directed Uncharted 3, met Ehasz while the two both worked at Riot Games, the studio behind the massively popular League of Legends.
“Even though I’ve worked on a number of shows in my career, [The Last Airbender and Futurama] are the two that had some kind of spark of magic where it resonated with an audience, continues to resonate for longer than it was ever expected to, and where it feels like you made something meaningful,” Ehasz says. “You start to ask yourself ‘what’s the difference between the productions we’ve worked on that have been magical, that mean something, and the ones that were awesome but didn’t have that magic?’”
Living up to that promise can be a difficult task without some sense of authenticity and effort that fans can latch onto, according to Richmond.
The team at Wonderstorm is hoping to avoid the pitfalls that have hurt productions like Quantum Break, which divided the game’s story with four interspersed live-action episodes meant to flesh out its cast. While results were positive overall, critics noted that the narrative didn’t cohesively stick the landing thanks to a sense of disjointedness between the game and the show.
Rather than spout philosophies on fandoms and world-building, Ehasz and Richmond are attempting to integrate their approach into the studio’s daily work life.
“When you were playing with Star Wars stuff, how many times did Luke, the Emperor, and an Ewok go have crazy adventures?”
“Writers and artists are literally working alongside designers and engineers, and we’re all engaged with these characters and this world,” Ehasz says. “It’s really a delightful situation. A lot of contributions are coming from corners you don’t expect.”
For both men, it took a simple bit of bonding over worlds like Robotech’s and Star Wars’ to cement their desire to go independent.
“We both really wanted to go and make a thing where we could really control it 100 percent and deliver on that promise of trying to make something magical,” Richmond says. “So if we’re going to mess it up, it’d be entirely our fault.”
It was Richmond’s uncle, who happened to own a bookstore in the '80s, that helped draw him into fantasy and science fiction worlds full of lore. After time and dwindling sales forced the store to close, said uncle delivered to him a box full of science fiction classics, including Ender’s Game and Lovecraft, as well as its fair share of objectively trashy pulp. Despite the mixed quality of the books, Richmond tore through each one, falling in love with each alternative universe, and exploring each in every way he could.
For Richmond and Ehasz, this hunger — knowing every little detail of a world, its ancient histories, its magical methodologies — stems from the relationship between an artist and their fans.
“The thing I take away from Futurama and The Last Airbender is that the audience is very, very smart,” Ehasz says. “All the details, nuance, and things you build into a story and characters? There may be people who don’t appreciate it, but there are so many out there who do and are paying attention. We’re spending all this time on this series and game making sure those details feel right, and that there are things to discover, and that things beneath the surface are worth it because there are tons of people out there who want and deserve that. We need to make something good enough for them.”
A major part of that also stems from fans being able to find a part of themselves in the characters they fall in love with, Ehasz says. Despite the inherently out-of-this-world nature of series like The Last Airbender, Uncharted, or Futurama, there’s a common thread of humanity that allows interstellar delivery workers, intrepid swashbucklers, or ancient mystics to connect with viewers.
For Ehasz, the impact of a relatively minor character from The Last Airbender on a viewer sticks with him to this day, roughly a decade later. Raised in a restrictive, emotionally neglectful home, the character Mai’s outwardly gloomy nature made her seem cold, until her perseverance paid off in the form of a confrontation with the treacherous Princess Azula.
“At some point, I received a letter from a younger woman who said she related to Mai as a darker, depressed character, and she said that of so many things she’d watched, that dark character is made fun of or loses in the end,” Ehasz says. “She felt like Mai had a happy ending without having to change her identity. She could have that identity and still find happiness without changing who she was. Those experiences are amazing, when someone takes a minute to tell you that something affected them, you just feel lucky you were able to have a positive impact on someone.”
Even with the decidedly “everyman” nature of a series like Uncharted, with Nathan Drake’s unflappable wit and ridiculous luck, Richmond developed an appreciation for the lengths fans would go to express their adoration. At a press event in Poland for one of the Uncharted games, a young boy found his way inside to speak with the developers.
“He was so excited to talk to us about Uncharted,” Richmond says. “His experience with it was like ‘this is what I play after school, it gives me an escape, and I want to be an archaeologist’ and all this stuff. For some reason, that one always makes me go ‘oh my god, we’ve provided this experience for this kid, and he was so thankful, can we please live up to this?’ How can we make sure we live up to this kid’s hopes and dreams for what this series is?”
While the team is still growing as necessary, it currently includes other former employees from Naughty Dog, Nickelodeon and Riot Games (and one director of The Last Airbender).
In the realm of television, it might have been a stroke of luck that turned a series like The Last Airbender into more than just a show. Nickelodeon afforded the team to take numerous creative risks, allowing writers and artists to turn it into something that might resonate more loudly, Ehasz says. Like most original series, it took some convincing to expand it beyond the borders of its weekly program and into toys, comics, and yes, even video games.
“I think in the end, most people would agree some of those successfully resonated, and some of them didn’t, but coming from where I was on the show, it felt like we got this audience’s attention, now how do we make sure everything else we’re bringing is worthy of their time?” Ehasz says, adding that this kind of question is exactly what the team at Wonderstorm fixates on during development.
In the end, both Ehasz and Richmond hope that the new worlds they build at Wonderstorm will not only entertain players, but invite them to create their own stories. For them, five hours spent watching Star Wars or a day reading Ender’s Game translated into hundreds of hours of time pretending on playgrounds and posing action figures, even if the results are a bit out there.
“For me anyway, when you were playing with Star Wars stuff, how many times did Luke, the Emperor, and an Ewok go have crazy adventures, right?” Richmond says. “That’s different than going ‘here’s the story of Luke Skywalker,’ and both those things are appropriate, and I think that’s a lot of what we captured here.”
In 2005, Nickelodeon broke the mold of its traditionally children-focused television series when it premiered Avatar: The Last Airbender, a culturally diverse, family-friendly animated show set in a fantastical world. Created by the imaginative duo of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the story of the young Avatar Aang and his fight against the Hundred Year War brought on by the Fire Nation was a visually splendid adventure that was just as exciting as it was inspirational.
Two years after the series wrapped its final season, Paramount released a controversial live-action adaptation from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan that would prove to be one of the most widely criticized movies in recent memory. Taking the colorfully rich world of the show and flipping it on its head, the people of the Water, Fire, Earth and Air nations were horribly miscast and misrepresented, virtually eliminating the beauty of the show. The crew behind the film have since been able to rebound from the atrocious re-imagining, but the movie has undeniably tarnished the credentials of everyone involved.
Although The Last Airbenderhas left an irreparable scar on the hearts of Avatar fans worldwide, there are things about the production that even the most devoted viewers don't know. So join us as we take a look behind the curtain at the 15 Things You Never Knew About the Terrible Last Airbender Movie.
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15 15. Avatar Creators Hated the Movie
In 2006, Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko sang the praises of director M. Night Shyamalan, who they admitted was a respectable fan of their work. By the time the film hit theaters, they had changed their tune, agreeing with the general audience that Nickelodeon and Paramount had disgraced their multi-cultural world with a cast and script that contradicted everything they had made.
In 2013, in a response to an online question regarding the color of Aang’s children in the series The Legend of Korra, Konietzko addressed rumors that his show had purposefully misrepresented a character of a different ethnicity. Speaking to the diversity of the show, Konietzko wrote that Shyamalan’s film was a “gross misinterpretation and misrepresentation” of the show he and DiMartino wished to present.
The duo would later say their involvement in the picture was unwanted and that the whole ordeal was a bad situation which they were forced to make the best of despite never having much say in the adaptation.
14 'Avatar' had to be dropped from the title due to James Cameron's 2009 Film
Although the word has since become synonymous with the large, Smurf-like species of Pandora made popular in James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi movie, the first Avatar was actually the Nickelodeon series of the same name.
Derived from Sanskrit, an avatar is a concept in Hinduism which traditionally refers to an incarnation of a deity. Aang, the last surviving airbender, was given the moniker of the Avatar after returning to earth to master all four elements of water, fire, earth, and air and bring balance to the four warring nations.
When Shyamalan began writing his first draft for The Last Airbender, he did so with the intention of using the series’ full name as the title, but as the definition of the word gradually shifted in the public’s mind, the marketing crew of Paramount wisely suggesting dropping the first part of the name.
Avatar: The Last Airbender became The Last Airbender to avoid confusion, though the word would be used throughout the film to refer to Aang’s lineage.
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13 Over budget and forced to shoot on sound stages
Five years after production wrapped on The Last Airbender, a former worker on the movie took to the fan site AvatarSpirit.net to voice his opinion on the problems with the film, revealing a few hidden facts about what went wrong.
Apart from the casting of many white actors in Asian roles, which the source said began with the studio’s casting of Nicola Peltz due to nepotism, it was also revealed that many key scenes were forced to be shot on sound stages after initially being scheduled to shoot on location.
The opening scene of the movie is one of the few highlights of the film. Although the discovery of Aang inside a frozen ball of ice still includes the screenplay’s cringe-inducing dialogue, it is a beautifully shot sequence filmed in the frozen landscape of Ilulissat, Greenland.
Due to this opening sequence going over budget, however, the crew were forced to relocate many scenes to rural Pennsylvania with other sequences being shot on sound stages, drastically affecting the movie’s overall look.
12 Racebending
The word 'racebending' has become synonymous with the word 'whitewashing,' though the former term may also be applied to actors of color being cast in traditionally white roles. Derived from the Avatar television series where characters are given the ability to bend the elements, the word originated on Racebending.com, a grassroots organization of media consumers that began as fans protesting the casting decisions of The Last Airbender.
In 2010, on the cusp of The Last Airbender’s release, Racebending.com and the Media Network for Asian Americans came together to boycott the release of the film. Although activists still use the term negatively, the opposite effect has also been seen in recent years, where actors of color have been cast in roles that would have otherwise been given to white actors, diversifying ensemble casts and pushing for an increase in racial visibility in Hollywood.
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11 Zac Efron, Ben Kingsley, and Gene Simmons almost starred
In the early developmental stages, M. Night Shyamalan became the source of a lot of fan hate when he was accused by the Media Network of Asian Americans for whitewashing a story which consisted of primarily Asian characters. Although the director insisted that the show’s universal acceptance of all ethnicities was still a part of his overall vision, he continued to cast all white actors in parts that were not traditionally intended for Caucasians.
In the beginning, pop singer Jesse McCartney was sought to play the role of Prince Zuko, but when controversy struck, McCartney dropped out, citing scheduling conflicts as his reason for leaving. When Dev Patel was cast in the part, Shyamalan made the decision to cast all Indian and Middle Eastern actors in Fire Nation roles, giving up on his vision of Ben Kingsley in the part of Uncle Iroh.
Other notable casting decisions such as Zac Efron playing Sokka and Gene Simmons voicing the Dragon Spirit were also reportedly in the works, but neither idea came to fruition.
10 Shyamalan Blamed Transformers for the Film’s Failures
Before adapting Avatar to the big screen, M. Night Shyamalan had never written a movie based on someone else’s work. According to the director, he had always wanted to direct a multi-million dollar fantasy picture in the vein of The Lord of the Rings, but had never had the right material come along - until his daughter introduced him to Avatar. Shyamalan wasn't just inspired by the story’s franchise potential; he saw the opportunity to bring a child-friendly picture to the big screen.
Explaining the movie’s failures, Shyamalan suggested that he was only making the movie for younger audiences and not for the PG-13 crowds that regularly attended movies like Transformers. Despite worsening reviews, the Transformers franchise has remained a financially successful series that's managed to attract stars like Nicola Peltz, who played Katara in Shyamalan's movie. Perhaps the director could have learned from the movies he publicly criticized.
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9 Dev Patel Regrets Playing Zuko
As the banished son of Fire Lord Ozai, Prince Zuko carried around a reminder of his disgrace in the form of a scar across his left eye. In much the same way, Dev Patel carried his involvement with The Last Airbender around as a reminder to never commit to a project he doesn't fully believe in. While working on Slumdog Millionaire, Patel prepared for the Shyamalan film by watching episodes of the Nickelodeon series.
In December of 2016, he dished out the details behind his biggest career mistake thus far. Discussing his fear of big budget productions, Patel said he was overwhelmed by playing Zuko. Rather than anyone listening to his input during the production, he felt alienated by the film crew, an experience that has since taught him how to say no when a part doesn't suit him.
Since The Last Airbender, the actor has done well for himself, bouncing back stronger than ever with his first Academy Award nomination for his performance in Lion.
8 The Mispronunciation of Characters’ Names Was Intentional
Although fans of the Nickelodeon series were quick to criticize M. Night for whitewashing the cast of their favorite animated show, the director claims it was never his intention to dishonor the Asian influences of the source material. According to the director, the pronunciation of character names like 'Aang' and 'Sokka' in the TV series fell victim to Anglicization, a mistake which he fought to change to give his movie a more authentic feel.
While Shyamalan's intentions were good, fans weren't pleased with the butchering of the names they had become accustomed to hearing. Despite Bryan Konietzko and Michael Di Martino drawing from multiple Eastern cultures to create Avatar’s four nations, there was no single cultural influence which predominantly inspired their fantasy world.
Making drastic changes to the series went against everything the original creators had envisioned for their show, which was enough to make every fan of the series cringe when they heard each character's name mispronounced over and over again.
7 It actually did okay at the box office
When Nickelodeon announced their plans to produce a trilogy of films based on one of their more successful properties, it was with the hopes of accumulating a massive amount of interest from both new and old fans alike. From the start, things looked bleak for the troubled production.
Intended to be Nickelodeon’s first major tentpole production with an estimated $250 million meant to be spent across all three movies, the film went wildly over budget, costing a total of $150 million. Paramount then spent another $130 million in marketing.
On opening week, The Last Airbender unsurprisingly faltered at the U.S. big office, debuting second behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse despite earning $40 million over the weekend. Only grossing $130 million domestically, the movie was ultimately able to make up the difference overseas, bringing in a grand total of $319 million, making the film a modest success.
Although the earnings were not enough to jump start production on a sequel, it was enough to prevent a complete disaster from the studio.
6 The First Draft Was Seven Hours Long
In the early developmental stages, M. Night Shyamalan was tasked with sorting through the first season of Avatar in order to condense a twenty episode arc into a feature-length film. According to the director, the original script was a faithful adaptation which covered all of the first season with an estimated seven hour run time. As production got underway, the necessary cuts had to be made to shorten the length of the film and keep the movie under budget. The result was a film filled with dry exposition that felt rushed.
Although the studio was ultimately responsible for the movie’s shortened script, many of Shyamalan's changes to the source material were still evident in the original screenplay. Major alterations, including the exclusions of Aang’s child-like sense of humor and Sokka’s comical persona, were reportedly always a small part of the film.
The Last Airbender 2 Movie
In the end, a 103 minute run time and the studio’s overall lack of knowledge about the show left the production in turmoil - and Shyamalan unable to steer the ship back on course.
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5 Thirty Minutes Had to be cut to Convert the Movie to 3D
When Avatar fans first learned of the movie's 103 minute run time, they immediately reacted with concern. The aforementioned seven hour fantasy epic first written by Shyamalan would likely never have seen the light of day, but at under two hours, there were too many characters who would have to be thrown to the curve in sacrifice to the central story. In the end, around thirty minutes of material was deleted from Shyamalan’s film, but the real kicker was why many of these scenes were scrapped in the first place.
Three months prior to the film’ release, Paramount announced it would spend an additional $5-10 million to convert the movie to 3D, an obvious last ditch effort to boost ticket sales. In order to complete the conversion in time for the movie’s Independence Day weekend release, the thirty minutes were left behind.
According to Shyamalan, the biggest scenes involved a meeting between Aang and the Kyoshi Warriors as well as many slapstick moments left over from the original script.
4 The Technology Did Not Exist to Create Realistic Bending Effects
In order to create a faithful Avatar adaptation, the crew of The Last Airbender would have to master the elements of earth, water, fire and air, creating realistic movements from all four which would result in special effects unlike anything seen on the big screen. In order to achieve the bending effects of the film, Shyamalan turned to Industrial Light & Magic.
Headed by the likes of effects supervisor Pablo Helman and associate supervisor Craig Hammack, the VFX crew didn't have the right technology to render realistic effects for the film. Rather than using software, computer graphic cards had to be used to bend the elements, which allowed Shyamalan to preview each effect more quickly, but also led to more than sixty takes being filmed before the right look was achieved.
In the end, ILM admitted to the difficulty of the challenge, saying firebending was particularly hard to capture due to the inability to accurately capture the unpredictable movements of the element.
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3 The Dragon Spirit Was Created Specifically for the Movie
In the live-action film, Aang enters the spirit world and he encounters the ancient Dragon Spirit. This character was created specifically for the film with multiple characters from the animated series in mind.
Taking the form of a dragon, the Dragon Spirit’s design was largely influenced by Fang, Avatar Roku’s animal guide who followed Roku into the Spirit World after his death. Similarly, the Dragon Spirit's wisdom was inspired by Avatar Roku, who was the Avatar that preceded Aang and taught him with lessons from his past experiences. Similarly, the character was based on Guru Pathik, a friend of Monk Gyatso who helped Aang to tap into his Avatar state.
Rather than being a former being from the physical world, however, the Dragon Spirit is a malevolent spirit that’s always existed inside the Spirit World, much like Koh from the original series.
2 Milla Jovovich Is a Big Fan
At the moment, The Last Airbender sits at an excruciatingly poor rating of 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, an all-time low in a string of failures that plagued M. Night Shyamalan’s career for many years, but according to one action movie heroine, the heavily vilified fantasy flick may not be as bad as everyone claims.
In 2010, Milla Jovovich, star of the Resident Evil franchise, brought up her love for martial arts flicks, specifically singling out The Last Airbender as a recent addition to the genre that she enjoyed. Jovovich was so entertained by the picture that she even hinted at wanting to star in the sequel. The reveal was such a surprise, but sometimes even the worst of movies manage to establish a fan base.
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1 A Script for a Sequel Exists
In July 2010, in the wake of The Last Airbender’s scathing reviews, Shyamalan addressed his original vision to create a trilogy of films and admitted to the future of the franchise being uncertain. Later, producer Frank Marshall would cast further doubt on a sequel, stating that while the other two films had not been cancelled, he was not sure if they would ever be made. Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko would throw their own opinion into the arena when they said they hoped to someday make their own live-action adaptation.
Now, seven years after the theatrical release of The Last Airbender, a sequel is unlikely to happen, but that doesn't mean Shyamalan isn't trying. According to him, there's already a draft which includes both Toph and Zuko’s sister, Azula.
With the cast now significantly aged and no longer endorsing the franchise, we’ll never know whether the second film would have improved upon its predecessor, but luckily this is one sequel we’re happy never saw the light of day.
The Last Airbender 2 Confirmed
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