Avatar: The Last Airbender

[DoubleLatte]

Originally Posted by Mr. Marshmallow

Uh I know I'm not a fan of this show and I've never really seen an episode or gotten into it so I won't say much about the show itself in general. But....I found something that is pretty damn big

I think the Avatar fans would want to see this:

http://www.mania.com/53268.html

Indeed they would, Mr. Marshmallow. Much love for sharing that link. I knew Avatar was fairly popular (enough to get BK toys, anyway) but I didn't really know it had gained enough popularity to get a movie deal with M. Night Shyamalan as writer, director, and producer. Hopefully I'll still be a rabid fan of the show by the time that movie is released. :3

EDIT: This'll be someone else's material, thus, we won't be getting anything like The Village and Lady in the Water. Phew.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

I too have never really watched Avatar: The Last Airbender (or Legend of Aang as it's called in the UK, as the word "bender" has, uh, connotations in this country ), but from what I've seen of it it's surprisingly well-done for what could easily have been an anaemic anime-lite.

Even so, I couldn't help noticing the M. Night Shyamalan news...a possible movie trilogy from a big-name, reputed writer director? I didn't realise the franchise was that big. Still, the most interesting thing about this project is the fact that it's been announced almost the same day that James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator, Aliens) announced he's finally starting production on his long (long, LONG)-in-gestation new project, a massively expensive sci-fi epic entitled...uh, "Avatar". If both movie projects go ahead as planned, this could get pretty interesting, because so far both Paramount (who are producing the Airbender movie) and Fox (who are producing Cameron's) are dead-set on using the title "Avatar", and neither seem willing to back down.

The combined forces of Paramount, Shyamalan and Nickelodeon vs. Fox, James Cameron and the most expensive movie of all time...heck, this saga might potentially end up more interesting than either film! I'll get the popcorn in...

[DoubleLatte]

What? There's no "vs" because the two projects are completely unrelated to each other and there is no competition other than the box office. Apparently, Cameron has been working on his sci-fi/action-adventure project for about 11 years and the name "Avatar" is Fox's deal, not Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" or Paramount Picture's. There's no tug-of-war style fighting for the name.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Hey, I'm just reporting it as I've heard it.

From EmpireOnline, the website of the UK's biggest movie magazine, and a reliable source;
"And what about all this title confusion? The nightmare scenario of little tots going in to see a kids movie only to be confronted with Cameron?s sci-fi epic ? or, even worse, discerning sci-fi fans being confronted with childish derring-do ? looms over both projects. But neither studio is giving an inch. Paramount say that they have registered the title of this project with the Motion Picture Association of America, while Fox (who are producing Cameron?s film) said, ?We own the movie title 'Avatar.' There won't be another film called 'Avatar' coming from anyplace." Oooh, dem?s fightin? words. It looks like someone?s going to have to back down, but it will probably be months or years before this p*ssing contest comes to an end, so keep watching this space."

You might be right, though; after all, slapping the show's subtitle on the Shyamalan movie would be an easy way to provide some disambiguation, so maybe Empire are just stirring a bit. Nevertheless, I'd say that both Fox and Paramount would be very keen to keep these two films as far apart at the box office as possible, because subtitle or no, having two completely different films called "Avatar" coming out at the same time would be a source of huge confusion. The large timescale involved in making Cameron's film might help in that respect.

In any case, it's still odd the way it's happened.

[Voxxyn]

I honestly find it pathetic that there could actually be a legal and publicity tug-of-war over a generic word like "Avatar". I REALLY hope that's just the media stirring things up.

[DoubleLatte]

Probably is, which is why I don't really buy into those two production companies clawing over the title "Avatar".

"It looks like someone’s going to have to back down, but it will probably be months or years before this p*ssing contest comes to an end, so keep watching this space."

That sounds like EmpireOnline's own words. I think whoever wrote that might have blown things a wee bit out of proportion or read more into it as the media typically does, remember? Stirring things up is its sole reason for existing. And anyway, judging by the time Cameron has already spent working on his project, his own sci-fi flick will most likely be released sooner as Shyamalan hasn't done so much as signed a deal for the "Avatar" trilogy. So, all this commotion for nothing. :3 Anyway, a quarrel isn't something I'll be looking out for, but rather the progress of the film. I'm always a little shaky about live-action film adaptations of cartoons, but I think "Avatar" might work out great. Hope that project doesn't fall through.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I also think this "Avatar" name tag battle doesn't hold much water. Copyright laws don't really go at it unless there's a completely and total duplication of a name or character as a whole, which in this case there is no total duplication going on here.

The show is called "Avatar: the last air bender" and Cameron's movie is called "Avatar", BIG difference. The cartoon show's full name is 5 words, 4 more different then the movie "Avatar". Unless the live movie of the show was gonna be called "Avatar", then that'd be a problem, but I doubt it very much so.

I think the problem here is that Shamalyn is doing something risky and possibly dangerous. While a fantasy director is the ideal candidate for this project, his last two movies honestly sucked if you asked me and bringing a TV show to life is a big project to tackle.

If the movie looks interesting enough maybe I'll go see it but I'm not an Avatar fan, but then again i don't hate the show so we'll see where this goes.

[DoubleLatte]

The thing is, Shyamalan's two last flicks were his own. Honestly, I'm a little relieved that he'll finally get to work with something different (someone else's work) and we'll see how he cuts it as a director and producer. If he gets "Avatar: The Last Airbender", chances are we won't be getting another movie that'll fall flat like Lady in the Water. I think he might nail it this time. He's probably been going through a dry spell is all, because that man is brilliant.

[podpazie]

Ugg, I hope M. Night does justice to it, but not being a big fan of his I'm seriously skeptical about it. I've been skeptical about other movies as well (Interview with a Vampire being one) and I've been happily proven wrong, I hope he does the same.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Yeah, I was quite interested to see what long-term Avatar fans would make of this news actually, because whilst M. Night Shyamalan is quite a prestigious writer-director, he's hardly universally adored; in fact, he's one of the most divisive filmmakers out there, with as many people really despising his body of work as there are that think he's a genius. Combine that with the fact that he's just come off the back of the relative failure of The Village and the absolute failure of Lady In The Water, and I can see why some Avatar fans might be more worried about this than actually pleased about it...

Still, a word of encouragement; do bear in mind that this isn't actually Shyamalan's first stab at adapting a beloved children's story. People tend to overlook it, but even though he didn't direct it, he was the main credited writer on the first Stuart Little movie. You can hardly say that the resulting film screamed "Shyamalan", which shows that he is flexible enough to put his own idiosyncracies aside in order to serve the material, if that's what's required...