Archive for the ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Category
The Last Airbender box office update
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Rohan
Critics took their turn bashing M.Night Shyamalan’ s THE LAST AIRBENDER and some even stepped outside of the box to bash M.Night Shyamalan personally. Disrespecting the “The Sixth Sense” “Unbreakable” director and chanted that M.Night Shyamalan’s career is over.
However, reviews are often useless when it comes to the box office, which can disgust critics and make studios sign in relief. Even some poorly reviewed movies are box office hits and can save a franchise. The Last Airbender was opened on the Fourth of July weekend and in spite of review rants the film opened big and Shyamalan laughed heading to the bank.
The Last Airbender was opened in a difficult period. Twilight: Eclipse was destroying all competitions in its first weekend, while Toy Story 3 was still doing big business in its third week. All the awful The Last Airbender review scores may ensured that it would get blown by Eclipse, yet that didn’t meant that the film would be a bomb.
According to Deadline Hollywood, the film opened to $16 millions on Friday July, 2, 2010, behind Eclipse’s third day of $28.2 million. Despite all of The Last Airbender review complaints, the film was built in brand name. M.Night Shyamlan himself is still a brand, despite his declining reputation. In addition, the 3D prices also helped boost the numbers, even though most critics stated that the 3D conversion was terrible.
Let’s not constitute the film a bomb. The Last Airbender earned $20.3 million from 45 territories according to Box Office Mojo. It held steady to a $3 million first week take in China and a $4.3 million debut in Mexico. In two months, The Last Airbender earned $122.2 million overseas for a worldwide (domestic plus foreign) total of $252.8 million.
M.Night Shyamalan always planned to make THE LAST AIRBENDER into a trilogy. Now we are waiting for Paramount to green lit the project with a trilogy.
A guide to the world of The Last Airbender
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Rohan
The folks at Coventry Telegraph just published an lengthy guide to M.Night Shyamlan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER – adapted from the Nickelodeon animated series – four nations represent the elements of air, water, earth and fire.
The Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others and a century passes with no end in sight to the destruction.
Then a boy called Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. He joins forces with a waterbender called Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) to restore balance to their wartorn world.
We have been sent a rather handy guide to the world presented in the film and, whether you’ve seen the movie or not, it’s interesting and informative enough to share with you here… read more about the world of The Last Airbender
Shyamalan embraces inner kid
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 by Rohan
M.Night Shyamalan is known for spine-chilling thrillers with ghoulish final-frame twists like in The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village. But director M Night Shyamalan says he loved getting the chance to be a big kid again when making his latest film ‘extravaganza’ The Last Airbender.
Based on a hit children’s TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the film in which the world is at war and its fate lies in the hand of one small boy. ‘I think each artist thinks of themselves at a certain period of their life and a little bit of me perceives me as a ten-year-old a lot,’ Shyamalan tells AAP from his home in the US.
‘You see it, even in my darker pieces – there’s always a perspective from that age group. Whether it’s Unbreakable when he sees his father in a certain way, obviously in The Sixth Sense and also in Signs which tells the kid’s point of view of what’s going on.
‘It’s always feathered in there. ‘The Last Airbender tells the story of a primitive world which is being threatened with extinction by the Fire Nation, who aims to annihilate the more peace-loving nations of Air, Water and Earth.
But then a ‘waterbender’, who is still learning to control her powers, discovers the long-lost Aang – not only the world’s last airbender, but an avatar sent to save the earth.
M. Night Shyamalan: Critics never get me
Thursday, August 19th, 2010 by RohanM. Night Shyamalan says he has learned to turn a blind eye to his detractors, particularly the ones across the pond.
“I don’t know what’s going on with me and the critics in the United States. They’ve never got me and it’s getting worse!” said the filmmaker.
Despite high praise for 1999′s The Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, follow-ups including The Village and Lady In The Water went down like lead balloons.
The writer and director thinks cultural differences may play a part:
“I’ve always had a European sensibility to my movies, so the pacing is always a little bit off for (Americans). It feels a little stilted, they need more electricity.
“I’m very used to getting on a plane from the US having been savaged by them and going to – in this case – Japan next, and then they’re like ‘genius!’, he added.
Poor reviews or not, Shyamalan has already penned the sequel to The Last Airbender and a strong peformance at the US box office means it is likely to be made.
Shobha De’s reponse to Dev Patel
Saturday, August 14th, 2010 by RohanWho is Shobba De? – In the 1980s, Shobba contributed to the Sunday magazine section of the Times of India, she used to explore the socialite life
in Mumbai lifestyles of the celebrities. At present, she is a freelance writer and columnist for several newspapers, magazines and just recently she tweeted to Dev Patel and advising the “Slumdog” star on how and why some big Bollywood stars decided to stay in Bollywood and rejecting offers from Hollywood because Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist.
I don’t know much about Dev Patel, but based on his remarks about Hollywood being racist and him getting offers to play steriotypical roles is the voice of an amateur actor. He doesn’t know that his acting abilities isn’t much to talk about yet and in my opinion the actor should be careful before murdering his career. Hindustan Times published the article recently which puts the spotlight on Dev Patel’s remarks and what they think of Hollywood.
The 20-year-old actor from London, frustrated by the lack of decent roles on offer, called Hollywood “institutionally racist”, according to The Telegraph.
“Because Slumdog was such a big hit, there was a lot of pressure in terms of what I did next,” said the actor, whose latest film The Last Airbender was also caught in a racist row. “And all I was getting offered were stereotypical parts.”
“Asian actors tend not to be sent challenging Hollywood scripts. I’m likely to be offered roles of a terrorist, cab driver and smart geek… I want to show that I have versatility,” he added. Patel said he was still hoping to overcome prejudice. “I’m buzzing with adrenaline and raring to go, but I have to be realistic. Being an Asian actor, it’s never going to be easy. Hopefully the industry is changing and the casting directors will be less focused on colour, so that people like myself can get through the door.”
Meanwhile, author Shobha De tweeted in response to Patel’s comment, saying: “Bachchoo Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist. Why do you think SRK, Big B, Salman, Aamir have stayed away? Badshahs here, cabbies there. Got it, Dev?”
Shyamalan promises ‘darker’ sequel to The Last Airbender
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 by RohanOPENING in UK cinemas this Friday, August 13, is M. Night Shyamalan’s new fantasy film The Last Airbender.
The filmmaker has revealed he already has two further instalments in mind in what’s envisaged as a potential franchise.
The movie is based on the children’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the Avatar part dropped for the big screen because of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic of the same name.
The story follows the adventures of a young boy called Aang in a world divided into four nations, representing Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
In this first film, the Fire Nation has waged a campaign for global domination and it’s only Aang, as the Avatar, who can manipulate all four elements and restore balance to the world.
Despite the challenges of the film and the criticisms of racism over his casting choices, Shyamalan hopes the movie does well enough for him to develop the story in further instalments.
“If I get the opportunity to make the second and third movies, I’ll be much more certain about how to approach it in terms of characters and feel confident in how to use all these things as tools, the CGI, the extras and the costumes,” he told us.
He adds he wants the story to become more “operatic” as it evolves. “In the second part, which is my favourite, it gets darker, things go wrong and Aang makes a lot of bad choices. I love that as a second act of the story.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Night talks Last Airbender, Facing Fears, Original Films
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Specter
Night was interviewed by Wales Online and the topics featured a number of things. It’s a very good interview and gives us some more perspective on Night as a person. Soapbox: Regardless of how folks feel about him, and how he comes across to some, he is still a human being. He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect as all deserve to be treated. That should go without saying, but a lot of people just don’t care, and that’s very sad. End soapbox.
“There were two types of film that were my guilty pleasure when I was kid and they were horror movies and martial arts movies,” says the talkative Indian-born director.
“I’ve been able to do my version of scarier movies, so I started to think about martial arts, the philosophy involved with every movement and how you discipline yourself. It’s a great medium for entertaining but also talking about deeper things.”
Shyamalan was responsible for adapting more than 30 hours of stories into a feature-length film, and plotted the film on boards for a year prior to principal photography.
Producer Frank Marshall talks Night, Airbender
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Specter
Producer Frank Marshall has worked on a few of Night’s films over the years, and has many great movies on his resume. He’s a great producer with a lot of insight into films that no many can see. Thirty years, 50-plus movies, and almost $5billion at the box office later, the man known as one of Hollywood’s “super producers” is here with the tale. Before we get to spaghetti, Indiana Jones, Bourne, or Marshall’s new project, a screen version of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, there’s The Last Airbender, out next week.
With an estimated production budget of $150 million, a lot is riding on M Night Shyamalan’s fantasy adventure, adapted from the TV series, about a young hero striving to unite a magical world. Starring Dev Patel in his first major role since Slumdog Millionaire, it is also Shyamalan’s latest attempt to regain the career high of The Sixth Sense after the lows of Lady in the Water and The Happening.
Marshall worked with Shyamalan on The Sixth Sense and Signs. “They like to put you up on pedestals so they can knock you down quickly,” he says of the critical reaction to Shyamalan’s recent movies. “I’ve seen that a lot, particularly when you don’t do the kind of projects they think you should do. This is not in his usual genre of horror and twists and scary movies. This is a family film that has a lot of heart and warmth.”
-via Herald Scotland
Shyamalan ‘not just about gimmicks’
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by RohanSay whatever you want to say or rant about M.Night Shyamalan, but it seems like Jackson Rathbone is standing shoulder to shoulder with 
M.Night Shyamalan from the beginning and defending the director. Jackson recently had the chance to sit with Digitalspy.com and do some talking.
Jackson Rathbone has said that there is more to M. Night Shyamalan’s work than plot turns and gimmicks. Rathbone also told Digital Spy that his Last Airbender director, whose early films The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable featured twist endings, was “amazing” to work with.
“People say he does twists in all his movies but where really was the twist in Signs?” he said. “It’s kind of hard to say that there’s a gimmick to his work, it’s not that, he tells a story so compelling that you’re on the edge of your seat all the way through the film.”
On Shyamalan’s approach to The Last Airbender, which is based on the popular Nickelodeon children’s TV show, Rathbone said: “What he was able to put into the live-action adaptation was a condensed version of the animated series. It was fun, it was amazing to get to work with a director of Night’s calibre, someone we’ve respected and admired for years now. We’re waiting for his next film to get out and see what he was going to do next.”
Do you agree or disagree with Jackson Rathbone?
Jackson Rathbone says Art is subjective
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by RohanThough it performed respectably at the box office, grossing nearly $130 million since its July 1 release date, M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy flick
“The Last Airbender” received an icy reception from critics — a reaction that star Jackson Rathbone says is undeserved.
“The critics in the U.S. … I just don’t think they really like M. Night Shyamalan anymore,” Rathbone told MTV News while on the blue carpet for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. “I don’t know why. It’s sad because he’s such an amazing director and an amazing person.”
The film, written and directed by Shyamalan, is a live-action remake of the popular Nickelodeon animated TV series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and the first installment in a proposed trilogy. It received mixed reviews from critics, many who said the film emphasized style over substance. Nonetheless, Rathbone stands by the film’s box-office performance, adding that Shyamalan’s popularity is stronger than ever in foreign markets.
“It was interesting, the reception with ‘The Last Airbender,’ because they did extremely well with the U.S. domestic box office and even better than expected overseas,” he said. “Overseas, internationally, they still love him and think his work is genius.”
In the end, Rathbone believes it’s just a matter of taste. “It’s just one of those things,” he said. “Art is subjective.”
Shyamalan’s mettle will next be tested with September’s stuck-in-an-elevator horror-thriller “Devil,” a story he conceptualized, while Rathbone will begin work on the two-part “Breaking Dawn” film this fall.
Source: www.mtv.com
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