As some may have noticed over the last week, the full Last Airbender toy line has begun to make its way into retail stores across the country, most notably Toys R Us. Produced by toymaker Spin Master, the line features five 3 3/4″ scale figures, deluxe Appa & Aang figures, and Aang’s Battle Staff & Ultimate Airmaster roleplay toys.
Having managed to obtain a 3 3/4″ Aang and the deluxe Appa figure (retailing for $7.99 and $17.99 respectively), I must say Spin Master’s efforts are lackluster, if not wholly disappointing. (more…)
One would think, that with TV Spots, Avatar Marathons, Prequels, and Mangas nothing could make the last few weeks better, but one would be wrong. This Japanese trailer surfaced today, and is by far the best one yet. Enjoy!
The Associated Press has run a new article spotlighting the supposed whitewashing of both The Last Airbender and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Michael Le of Racebending.com naturally wasn’t silent on the matter.
“To take this incredibly loved children’s series, and really distort not only the ethnicity of the individual characters but the message of acceptance and cultural diversity that the original series advocated, is a huge blow.”
However, Paramount was quick to come to M. Night Shyamalan’s defense.
“Night’s vision of ‘The Last Airbender’ includes a large and ethnically diverse cast that represents cultures from around the world.”
We shall see if the fans and general public will accept these casting changes once The Last Airbender arrives in theaters July 2.
30Ninjas.com has recently published the second part of their interview with director M. Night Shyamalan, in which, Shyamalan explains the difficulty of creating a complete fantasy world.
JULINA TATLOCK: You know, one of the things that I love about your work is your ability to show the otherworldly within the everyday. And in Airbender, it’s almost the exact opposite.
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: Right, right (laughs).
JULINA: It’s the human relationships and the characters that you can identify with — that humanity in them is the everyday, but they’re within the otherworldly. This is common in fantasy and anime, but did you have concerns about the believability? Or was that a difficult leap for you in any way?
NIGHT: Yeah, I mean, it’s always tricky with a pure fantasy. You’re gonna have an advantage in a movie likeTransformers where the baseline is still the contemporary world. The baseline [in Airbender] is not anything that we’re used to, so it’s very, very tricky. It’s all about the tone. And it took a long time to get the tone right; editing, re-editing, looking at it — and then just getting the CGI, because we’d been editing without [the] CGI [shots] for so long. It was a balancing act that took a long time because we also had the tonality issues that the cartoon played very young and very “slapsticky,” and slowly extricating the balance that was necessary to make it an appropriate representation of the source material, which was beloved, but my version of it and edging it up.
M. Night goes on to comment on his love/hate relationship with previsualization, and dealing with those moments of stress that made him feel like he had lost control of the movie. Be sure to check 30ninjas.com to read the rest of the article!
The first part of Julina Tatlock’s exclusive phone interview with director M. Night Shyamalan has been published over at 30ninjas.com! They discussed the extraordinary process of creating an extensive digital VFX film for the first time, and the martial arts forms incorporated into the fight choreography including ba gua, tai chi, and Hung Gar. You can read the interview in its entirety here, and be sure to look out for the second part coming soon.
Paramount Pictures has released the final domestic theatrical poster for The Last Airbender via /Film. Is anybody else noticing a recurring theme here?
Our friends at LastAirbenderFans were also given the final UK theatrical one-sheet for our viewing pleasure.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount, we’re excited to bring you an exclusive look at the poster German Airbender fans will be seeing at their local theaters this Summer!
Pretty neat, eh? The Legend of Aang in 3D awakens in Germany on August 19!
Earlier today Paramount Pictures unveiled the third full length theatrical trailer for The Last Airbender. Suffice to say it features a great deal more bending money shots, and is sure to garner a lot of attention from moviegoers. It is also the first publicly released media touting the recently announced 3D version. Without further ado…
As some may have noticed over the last week, the full Last Airbender toy line has begun to make its way into retail stores across the country, most notably Toys R Us. Produced by toymaker Spin Master, the line features five 3 3/4″ scale figures, deluxe Appa & Aang figures, and Aang’s Battle Staff & Ultimate Airmaster roleplay toys.
