Since the franchise’s inception, the Avatar franchise has been met with praise from audiences and critics alike. Avatar Studios, Nickelodeon’s production company in charge of all things Avatar, will release three more animated Avatar films in the future. The franchise was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko in the Nickelodeon series called Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The action-full and adventure-led series first aired in 2005 and ended in 2008. Drawing inspiration from Japanese anime, DiMartino and Konietzko created the Emmy Award-winning series centered on a young boy named Aang, the chosen Avatar, and his friends – Katara, Sokka, and Toph, who help the young Airbender save the nations of their world from the Fire Nation’s wrath. In this world, four elements – water, fire, earth, and air – are controlled by a chosen few. However, only the “Avatar” can channel all four of the elements. Aang, the Avatar in question, finds himself in charge of establishing peace amongst nations and serving as a liaison between the material and spiritual realms. The Legend of Korra was a spin-off series that ran from 2012-2014.
A much-maligned film adaptation of the wildly successful Avatar: The Last Airbender was released in 2010, with the series' first season serving as the basis of the live-action movie called The Last Airbender. Over a decade after the first film treatment, three new animated films are slated to be released from Avatar Studios. In a 2021 statement to EW, the original series creators, DiMartino and Konietzko, stated that Avatar Studios would begin to produce an animated film, stating, “With this new Avatar Studios venture we have an unparalleled opportunity to develop our franchise and its storytelling on a vast scale, in myriad exciting ways and mediums.”
Three new animated Avatar films are in the works at Nickelodeon's Avatar Studios, according to Paramount and Nickelodeon. The untitled first part, a theatrical release, will be directed by Lauren Montgomery (Avatar: The Last Airbender). Konietzko and DiMartino will return to produce alongside executive producer Eric Coleman. Latifa Ouaou, Executive Vice President of Movies and Global Franchises at Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, will lead development on the first feature together with Jason McConnell, Vice President of Animation at Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Animation.
Ramsey Naito, the President of Animation & Development at Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, commented on the exciting new adventure, “As original creators Mike and Bryan expand the Avatar universe with us, we’re keeping it all in the family with Lauren bringing the same kind of expert, beautiful work she did on the original series to her new directing duties on the forthcoming theatrical.”
With three films set to release in the coming years, and a separate live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series in development at Netflix – though neither Konietzko nor DiMartino are connected with the project – fans of the Avatar franchise are in for lots and lots of content in the coming years.