Avatar Aang Is Coming To Theaters After All
Unfortunately, there is a catch.
Team Avatar, your prayers have been answered.
Slim as the chances might have been to see the feature-length sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender on the big screen, Paramount Skydance is offering fans the opportunity to catch Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender in theaters for one week only. While the film will still premiere on Paramount+ on July 25, it’s now getting a limited premiere in Los Angeles and New York starting on Friday, July 24. (Fans attending San Diego Comic-Con can also catch Avatar Aang at an exclusive fan screening that same day.)
These screenings are designed to give Avatar Aang a theatrical run that will make it eligible for major awards down the line, hence the brevity and exclusivity. The downside is that most showings are already totally sold out — but there is a silver lining. Paramount may be testing the waters for a wider engagement in theaters, and there’s no better way to express demand than by selling out every showing for a week straight. Hopefully this means the studio is listening to the fans, as this could be just the beginning of a hard-won redemption for Avatar Aang.
Avatar Aang will fly into theaters on July 24, but it deserves a lot more than a one-week engagement.
It’s been a rough few months for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar Aang, the long-gestating sequel that follows the adult members of the Gaang on a new adventure, has been in the works for years and was always meant to premiere in theaters. Right as it approached the finish line, however, it faced one major setback after another. After Paramount merged with Skydance, Avatar Aang was quietly rebranded as a streaming exclusive. The film leaked online shortly after that divisive change, forcing Paramount Skydance to problem-solve in a hurry.
The studio bumped its release date up from October to July to coincide with Comic-Con, stoking excitement with a Hall H panel and a fan screening. That announcement was the first sign that Paramount might be reevaluating the choices that led it here — but Avatar Aang still deserves more than consolation prizes.
If all this controversy proves anything, it’s that the love for this franchise is stronger than ever. The Avatar saga once lived on the small screen, but Aang’s return has become the kind of cinematic event that’s hard to ignore. Avatar Aang should have never been relegated to Paramount+ — just as Netflix left major money on the table by keeping KPop Demon Hunters out of theaters, so too is Paramount wasting a great film’s potential.
