Home Movies

Will The Last Airbender 2 Be Greenlit?

The Last Airbender, the newest film from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, opened last week in theatres. It received awful reviews from critics yet it still was able to gross a very respectable amount of money. After opening on Wednesday it went on to pull in about $57 million for it's 5 day opening. While this is nothing to look down upon, the film did cost $280 million so it still has a long way to go until it makes back its budget.

First, a distinction. Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Nickelodeon series, is one of the finest television series of the 21st century, a stirring and beautiful epic that successfully tackled stories far trickier than its audience demanded. However, The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan's butchering of it, is one of the worst films ever made. Your kids may feel a strong urge to watch it out of some misplaced reverence for the series, but don't let them convince you. The acting is atrocious, the story muddled, the effects third-rate and the tone so bizarrely grave that you may question whether The Last Airbender was intended as the most self-effacing comedy ever.

Recommended Videos

The Last Airbender, the newest film from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, opened last week in theatres. It received awful reviews from critics yet it still was able to gross a very respectable amount of money. After opening on Wednesday it went on to pull in about $57 million for its 5 day opening. While this is nothing to look down upon, the film did cost $280 million so it still has a long way to go until it makes back its budget.

The Playlist is reporting that despite the negative reviews, Shyamalan would like to do a sequel. Apparently he even has the sequel all mapped out.

“The third is more ambiguous, but the second one, I’ve written a draft that I’m really happy with and is darker and richer,” he told MTV. “And it has a wonderful antagonist in it in Azula, who’s kind of like our only real, pure antagonist in the series, so I’m excited about that.”

After a full week in release, Airbender is up to about $80 million according to the latest estimates and analysts predict the film will hit around $125 or $150 million before it leaves theatres. That is for the US alone, after you add in the international totals the film could easily make back the $280 million and possibly, even more. Never underestimate the box office totals from overseas as they usually contribute a great deal to a film’s worldwide box office total.

So while a sequel is still quite a ways from being greenlit, it isn’t totally out of the question. If the film does manage to breakeven there is a good chance that Shyamalan will have his sequel greenlit.