For years, bending enthusiasts have been waiting for the movie that will finally tell us a story from Aang and the gang’s adulthood. While The Legend of Korra hinted at what had happened to the stars of its predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Paramount created a feature-length film to do what many had demanded. The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is slated to release on Paramount+ this fall, but a recent leak has seen the entire movie land online. As a result of this leak, the ripple effects being felt by Paramount and the entertainment industry as a whole might need to be examined to reveal the leaks’ full effect.
The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender has a reported budget of $80 million USD, and while the leak might not mean that the entirety of making this production budget back is in jeopardy, it might throw a monkey wrench into a profit forecast. Last year, it was announced that the original plans for the film hitting theaters had been shelved, and Paramount decided to make it exclusive to the studio’s streaming service. If fans of the franchise and animation are already seeing the movie online for free, many might be worried that they won’t take the opportunity to do so on Paramount+ when it is released this October. While the creators of the animated film have let their thoughts be known about the major breach, other animators have taken to social media to do the same.
Animators Speak Out on Bending Leak
Paramount
While Paramount has not released an official statement regarding the origins of the leak as of yet, the studio is performing an investigation to learn how The Legend of Aang hit the internet. Joining the chorus of surrounding voices talking about the controversy, Julia Schoel, an animator on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Paramount, bashed the leak by stating, “This is incredibly disrespectful to all of the hard work the artists put in.” Schoel had previously noted that she felt the decision to take The Last Airbender to Paramount+ was a “terrible decision” and said animators “worked on the Aang movie for years with the expectation that we’d get to celebrate all of our hard work in theaters.”
Flying Bark Studios’ Tessa Bright, who assisted with the animation on The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, commented on the leak and the damage done to the creative team, “It’s perfectly reasonable for anyone who worked on this project to be frustrated at this situation. The amount of effort and dedication it took to make this film happen speaks for itself in the final product, and I’m sure a lot of you will agree.” To date, Paramount hasn’t made any changes to the upcoming release thanks to the leak, though we’ll be sure to keep readers updated on any future updates within the bending world.
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Via The Hollywood Reporter
