The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender ialah filem fantasi pengembaraan 2010 Amerika arahan M. Night Shyamalan. Ia adalah adaptasi filem aksi nyata musim pertama kepada Nickelodeon siri beranimasi Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Filem membintangi Noah Ringer sebagai Aang, bersama Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, dan Dev Patel. Ia diterbitkan Paramount Pictures dan Nickelodeon Movies. Pembangunan untuk sebuah filem bermula pada 2007; ia diadaptasikan menjadi filem oleh M. Night Shyamalan, yang juga mengarah dan menerbit. Penerbit lain termasuk Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Sam Mercer dan Scott Aversano. Siri yang filem telah diadaptasikan telah dipengaruhi seni Asia, mitologi dan pelbagai gaya seni mempertahankan diri dan telah dicipta Michael Dante DiMartino dan Bryan Konietzko. Pengfileman bermula tengah-Mac 2009, dengan tempat di Greenland dan Pennsylvania.
The Last Airbender dibikin dengan bajet $150 juta dan dipasarkan dengan bajet $130 juta, kos berjumlah $280 juta. Menayangkan di New York City pada 30 Jun, 2010, ia membuka di Amerika Syarikat pada hari berikut, memulangkan kira-kira $16 juta. The Last Airbender membuka di tempat kedua box office belakang The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, dan akhirnya memulangkan $131 juta secara domestik dan $319 juta dari seluruh dunia.
Filem telah memenangi lima Anugerah Raspberi Emas termasuk Filem Paling Teruk in 2011.
Katara (Nicola Peltz) yang berusia empat belas tahun dan abangnya yang berusia lima belas tahun, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), berhampiran sebatang sungai di Kutub Selatan. Semasa memburu, mereka terjumpa sebuah bongkah ais yang mengeluarkan batang cahaya ke langit. Dalam bongkahan ais itu terdapat seorang budak bernama Aang (Noah Ringer) dan seekor flying bison bernama Appa. Tanpa disedari mereka, Aang merupakan sang Avatar yang telah lama kehilangan – seorang saja yang mampu "mengendali" (“bend”) kesemua empat unsur. Seratus tahun telah berlalu sejak Negara Api mengisytiharkan perang terhadap tiga negara Angin, Air dan Bumi dalam usaha mereka menjajah dunia.
Zuko (Dev Patel), seorang putera Negara Api yang dibuang, sedang mengembara untuk mencari sang Avatar dan membawanya sebagai banduan kepada bapanya, Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis). Setelah melihat cahaya yang dikeluarkan semasa pembebasan Aang, beliau dan beberapa askar Negara Api tiba di Puak Air Selatan untuk memaksa penduduknya menyerahkan sang Avatar. Aang menunjukkan dirinya lalu menyerah dirinya kepada Zuko dengan syarat kampung itu dibiarkan. Bapa saudara Zuko, Uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub) memguji Aang untuk mengesahkannya sebagai sang Avatar. Setelah Aang dimaklumkan bahawa dia akan dipenjarakan mereka setelah lulus ujian, Aang melarikan diri menggunakan glider lalu terbang ke flying bison yang dibawa Katara dan Sokka. Aang dan kawan-kawan barunya melawat Kuil Angin Selatan lalu menyedari bahawa dia berada dalam bongkah ais itu selama sekurun dan bahawa Negara Api telah membunuh semua Pengembara Angin, termasuk penjaganya, Monk Gyatso. In despair, dia memasuki keadaan Avatar dan terjumpa dirinya dalam dunia roh dimana dia terserempak dengan roh naga yang menyuruhnya ke Puak Air Utara untuk mempelajari Water Bending.
Sementara di sebuah bandar Kerajaan Tanah kawalan Negara Api, kumpulan Aang ditangkap kerana Katara cuba membantu seorang lelaki muda daripada sekumpulan patrol. Mereka memulakan pemberontakan dengan mengingatkan disgruntled Earthbenders bahawa tanah telah diberi kepada mereka. Katara diberi sebuah skrol Waterbending yang digunakan beliau untuk perfect her Waterbending dan membantu Aang belajar sambi ke Puak Air Utara sambil memerdekakan beberapa kampung Kerajaan Tanah.
During a side track to the Kuil Angin Utara on his own, Aang dikhianati seorang hamba lalu ditangkap sekumpulan archers Negara Api pimpinan Admiral Zhao (Aasif Mandvi), seorang laksamana Negara Api appointed by the Fire Lord. Walaubagaimanapun, seorang perampok bertopeng, "Roh Biru", membantu Aang melepaskan dirinya. Zhao menyedari bahawa Zuko adalah perampok bertopeng tersebut lalu merancang membunuh putera tersebut. Zuko survives the attempt on his life with Iroh's help. Beliau menyelinap naik kapal depan Zhao sementara his fleet departs for the Puak Air Utara untuk menangkap sang Avatar. Upon arriving, kumpulan Aang disambut rakyat Puak Air Utara. Dengan segera, Sokka berkawan dengan puteri Puak Air Utara, Yue (Seychelle Gabriel). Setelah beberapa persetujuan, seorang waterbending master, Pakku (Francis Guinan), mengajarkan Aang cara mengendalikan air.
Soon, Negara Api tiba dan Zhao memulakan serangannya sementara Zuko dengan sendirinya mencari sang Avatar. Beliau menangkap Aang semasa dia memasuki dunia roh untuk mencari roh naga untuk memberinya kebijaksanaan untuk mengalahkan Negara Api. Setelah pulang ke jasadnya, Aang bertarung dengan Zuko sebelum dibekukan Katara. Sementara perlawanan menjadi hangat, Iroh melihat Zhao menangkap roh bulan Tui, yang bersama roh airnya counterpart telah mengambil bentuk ikan. Zhao membunuh Tui, mengingkari rayuan Iroh, untuk strip Waterbenders kuasa dan kemampuan mereka Waterbend. Yue memberitahu bahawa roh bulan memberinya kehidupan, dan beliau rela memberinya balik sambil meninggal. With the tables turned, Zhao dilemaskan Waterbenders setelah Zuko dan Iroh membiarkannya menemui ajalnya. Aang menggunakan laut untuk menghalau armada kapal tersebut. Aang now fully embraces his destiny as the Avatar as he, Katara dan Sokka bersedia meneruskan penjelajahan mereka ke Kerajaan Tanah untuk mencari guru earthbending untuk Aang. Fire Lord Ozai mengetahui kekalahan mereka, lalu menyuruh anak perempuannya Azula (Summer Bishil) untuk menangkap sang Avatar.
Pada 8 Januari 2007, Paramount Pictures' MTV Films dan Nickelodeon Movies mengumumkan bahawa mereka telah signed M. Night Shyamalan to untuk mengarang, mengarah dan menerbit sebuah trilogi filem live-action berdasarkan siri Avatar: The Last Airbender; the first of which would encompass the main characters' adventures in Buku Pertama. An announcement, revealing the July 2, 2010 release date was made on April 15, 2008. The film, which was in a dispute with James Cameron's film Avatar regarding title ownership, was also titled The Last Airbender.
According to an interview with the co-creators in SFX magazine, Shyamalan came across Avatar when his daughter wanted to be Katara for Halloween. Intrigued, Shyamalan researched and watched the series with his family. "Watching Avatar has become a family event in my house ... so we are looking forward to how the story develops in season three," said Shyamalan. "Once I saw the amazing world that Mike and Bryan created, I knew it would make a great feature film." He added he was attracted to the spiritual and martial arts influences on the show.
Avatar co-creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko voiced their opinion within an interview regarding M. Night Shyamalan writing, directing and producing the film. The two displayed much enthusiasm over Shyamalan's decision for the adaptation, stating that they admire his work and, in turn, he respects their material. Producer Frank Marshall explained that they have high hopes to stick to a PG rating. "I'm not even sure we want to get in the PG-13 realm. Furthermore, Shyamalan said, "I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that...We grounded Katara's brother...and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."
M. Night Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney. In an interview with People, Shyamalan claimed that he did not want to make The Last Airbender without Nicola Peltz, "I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley in The Sixth Sense auditions." In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced Jesse McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts. Katharine Houghton and Seychelle Gabriel played "Gran Gran", the grandmother of Katara and Sokka, and Princess Yue, another of Sokka's love interests and princess of the Northern Water Tribe, respectively. Isaac Jin Solstein played an earthbending boy. Aasif Mandvi played Commander Zhao, Cliff Curtis played Fire Lord Ozai, and Keong Sim was cast in the role of an Earthbender.
Ringer, yang tidak pernahworked on a film, mula practising Taekwondo, seni mempertahankan diri dan sukan kebangsaan Korea Selatan, pada usia 10. His skills later garnered accolades, including the title of American Taekwondo Association Juara Negeri Texas. Since Aang was bald in the animated series, pelakon yang memainkan watak tersebut perlu mencukur kepalanya, atau memakai "bald wig". Walau bagaimana pun, Ringer mula mencukur kepalanya semasa latihan mempertahankan diri untuk membantu menyejukkan dirinya, menyebabkan para penggemar dan gurunya, yang kesemuanya penggemar siri kartun, untuk memanggilnya "Avatar". Feeling the connection with the martial arts sequences from the series, Ringer heard about the film adaptation and, with the help of his instructor, submitted an audition tape. His painted blue arrow on his already shaved head helped secure him the lead role. Having not acted before, Ringer was required to attend acting school a month before filming commenced, calling the film a great experience. Peltz was familiar with the Waterbending character before submitting for the part of Katara, having faithfully watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series on which the film is based, with her younger twin brothers. She describes her character as being a big role model with young girls and women, "She’s really mentally and physically strong, strong-willed and -minded, but she’s also caring and compassionate... The movie has a lot of values, but it’s also fun. It’s fantasy, but it’s also a really cool battle between good and evil." She explained that she initially didn't know about Rathbone starring in the Twilight films until after she met him and said that working with Shyamalan was an amazing experience. Rathbone, who originally auditioned for the role of Zuko, was approached by Shyamalan to audition for the film. After waiting for six months, he received a call informing him that he was cast as Sokka. Rathbone stated that his favorite scenes were the fight sequences, which he prepared for by stickfighting.
Before Slumdog Millionaire was released, Patel auditioned for the role of Zuko by submitting a tape to the studio. Shyamalan called Patel personally to inform him that he got the part. Training for the film was intense, as he had to learn Wushu and different martial arts. Patel's first fight scene filmed called for him to be in a tub of water on a ship; he was to look at a picture of his family, which would give him the urge to fight. Patel recalls fighting, punching, and throwing and said it was truly amazing. While he was filming Slumdog in India, he would finish a take and turn one of the channels over to the animated series. Even though it is based on a cartoon, he wanted to bring as much of himself as possible to the character he was portraying. Shaun Toub, who was cast as Uncle Iroh, describes his character in the first film as "loose" and "free". He compares Zuko's "obsession" to his childhood memories and how kids are always looking for their parents’ approval, saying that Zuko just wants his father's. "He isn’t necessarily bad, he just has a great deal of built up anger and forgets to consider others. I think people will understand that he’s not bad, he’s just angry and hurting because he really wants his father to love him, but his father is too busy with other things." He says that Patel is an "18 year old with all this energy," and that Patel was able to influence him into appreciating the business of film making more. While comparing the animated series to the film, he says the film is much more serious. He attributed this change to the director trying to relate to every age group, rather than just kids.
Pemilihan pelakon berkulit putih dalam alam Avatar berpengaruh Asia triggered negative reactions from some fans marked by accusations of racism, kempen menulis surat , and various protests. "To take this incredibly loved children's series, and really distort not only the ethnicity of the individual characters but the message of acceptance and cultural diversity that the original series advocated, is a huge blow," Michael Le of Racebending.com, a fan site calling for a boycott of the martial-arts fantasy, said. As a result of the casting, the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans urged a film boycott for the first time in the organization’s 18-year history. "This was a great opportunity to create new Asian-American stars...[nonetheless,] I’m disappointed." stated Guy Aoki, president of the organization. After a casting call specifically looking for “Caucasians and other ethnicities,” Shyamalan explained that “Ultimately, this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tent-pole movies ever released, period.” Furthermore, Paramount provided a statement about the casting choices, "The movie has 23 credited speaking roles — more than half of which feature Asian and Pan Asian actors of Korean, Japanese and Indian decent. The filmmaker’s interpretation reflects the myriad qualities that have made this series a global phenomenon. We believe fans of the original and new audiences alike will respond positively once they see it." The studio also took the initiative to screen the film to boycotters at Racebending.com after the 3D conversion was complete.
M. Night Shyamalan commented on the issues regarding fans' perceptive of the casting in an interview with Washington Post columnist Jen Chaney, saying, "Anime is based on ambiguous facial features. It’s meant to be interpretive. It’s meant to be inclusive of all races, and you can see yourself in all these characters...This is a multicultural movie and I’m going to make it even more multicultural in my approach to its casting. There’s African-Americans in the movie...so it’s a source of pride for me. The irony that [protesters] would label this with anything but the greatest pride, that the movie poster has Noah and Dev on it and my name on it. I don’t know what else to do." Rathbone was also one to dismiss the complaints in an interview with MTV, saying, "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit." The controversy wasn't well received by critics either. Film critic Roger Ebert was one of the critical voices against the casting. When asked about casting a white cast to portray the characters, he said, "The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and popular for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Its fans take it for granted that its heroes are Asian. Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts." Jevon Phillips of the Los Angeles Times noted that despite Shyamalan's attempts to defuse the situation, the issue will "not fade away or be overlooked", and that this film exemplifies the need for a debate within Hollywood about racial diversity in its films.
Pre-production began in late 2008, while filming began in March 2009 in Greenland. After two weeks, the cast and crew moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where production designers and special-effects crews worked for several weeks, preparing the local site for the film. A production team scouting the area found the Pagoda on Mount Penn, which served as an ancient temple in the film. Reading, Pennsylvania mayor Tom McMahon explained that crews made road improvements and buried electrical lines surrounding the structure.
Filming also took place in Bandar Ontelaunee dan juga di Menara Api Peringatan William Penn di Pennsylvania after the production crew finished at the Pagoda. When asked about shooting the film in Reading, Pennsylvania, Pamela Shupp, penolong presiden of Berks Economic Development said, "They needed buildings to shoot all the interiors, and were looking for a group of buildings with high ceilings and specific column spacing. We showed them a number of buildings, but we couldn't come up with enough to meet their requirements. So the interiors will be shot in Philadelphia."
Dengan filem semaju Avatar, harapan membaling bebola api dan air secara realistik were pushed to the limit on The Last Airbender. The film presented the opportunity to create and work on a variety of things never seen before, and Pablo Helman, who previously worked on Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, was the visual effects supervisor for the Industrial Light and Magic team on the film. He worked closely with Shyamalan, reviewing each scene and talking about the visual effects needed to tell the story, and ultimately worked with about 300 people to reflect the director's vision, who he said planned it all in a story-board book.
Industrial Light and Magic was posed with visualizing the elemental tribes of Angin, Air, Tanah, dan Api; most importantly creating the "bending" styles of these elements. Tambahan pula, they were required to animate inanimate creatures and enhance stunt work with digital doubles. "Kerja ini agak mencabar," shares Helman. "Kami terpaksa figure out what "bending" is for api, air, angin dan tanah." Projek dimulakan tanpa teknologi yang diperlukan needed to create the effects. Rather than software, computer graphic cards were the basis for "bending" the elements, membolehkan pratonton dibuat dalam masa yang singkat. Hasilnya, Shyamalan terpaksa mengarah lebih daripada enam puluh sixty takes sebelum kesan disiapkan dan lined up with his visions.
Due to reality-based expectations, api dan air merupakan unsur yang paling susah untuk to effectively bend, and because of particle work which was unable to be rendered in hardware, earth bending also was difficult to create. With water, the variety in different scales required Helman and his team to create different techniques. The concept for air was derived from the animation of the television series. In order to create the air bending effect, pengarah seni kesan visual Christian Alzman dan digital matte department supervisor Barry Williams explained that seeing dust and snow particles, rather than seeing the air itself, helped shape the real world effect of bending the element. Before the bending effects could be applied though, gerakan pelakon perlu disepadankan; Shyamalan therefore inginkan gaya bending setiap watak unik untuk in order to fit with their unique personalities.
The challenge for fire didn't come with making it look realistic, but rather making the fire behave in an unrealistic way that would be dipercayai para penonton. The film that inspired The Last Airbender's fire style was filem Harry Potter keenam, yang telah direkasemula in order to reflect two-dimensional simulations. Helman's team referenced images of flames being pushed through the air by giant fans for certain shots needed throughout the film. The team also considered using a meshed image of real and digital fire, but in the end, went with the richer, deeper texture of computer generated flame.
In terms of matte paintings, this was the biggest show that Helman had ever done. The paintings had to be in 3D because the visual style included long duration shots in which the camera always moved. The climax, which was enacted on a 200 kali 200 kaki (61 m × 61 m) set, had to be incorporated with still of the landscapes shot in Greenland, as well as the low-angle lighting that was captured on location there. The camera was animated to get angles needed for different shots in the film by importing these stills into the computer. Multiple cameras were used to capture the different wire-work and animation that was used to create the creatures and many fight scenes within the film. In creating these creatures, the team referenced nature. In order for them to be believable, they looked for examples of the same size and weight as the animated character and then developed hybrids from different animals to make each species unique. This was done by observing actual animals to get a take on how they would act. Shyamalan's take on the personality of each creature also influenced the creation stage of the creatures. Contohnya, the lemur Momo has flying mechanics berdasarkan giant fruit bat. Unsur lain, seperti penteksturan, simulasi rambut atau skala, dan pencahayaan dan bayang-bayang yang serentak dengan aksi langsung, dimasukkan untuk menjadikan animasi akhir kelihatan final animation appear as real as possible during the later stages perkembangan watak.
Paramount Pictures membuat pengumuman lewat April 2010, bahawa The Last Airbender akan dikeluarkan dalam format 3-D. Keputusan ini dibuat setelah beberapa filem yang dibuat atau ditukar ke 3D, contohnya Avatar, Alice in Wonderland dan Clash of the Titans, mengaut keuntungan yang memuaskan di box office. Meskipun turutan Helman bahawa cara Shyamalan merakam tanpa suntingan cepat dan proses visual filem could lend itself to the 3D conversion well, James Cameron melaungkan bantahannya terhadap apa jua filem yang ditukar menggunakan proses itu, menurutnya, "Anda boleh menampal label 3-D dan memanggilnya 3-D, tetapi tiada apa jua cara itu boleh dibuat mengikut piawaian yang boleh dianggap cukup tinggi oleh orang lain." ("You can slap a 3-D label on it and call it 3-D, but there's no possible way that it can be done up to a standard that anybody would consider high enough.") Despite this, Shyamalan opted to work with Stereo D LLC, the company who worked on James Cameron's own Avatar. Proses penukaran filem memakan belanja antara $5 juta dan $10 juta, adding to the reported $100 juta yang telah dibelanjakan filem.
Pada Disember 2008, James Newton Howard dimaklumkan sebagai komposer The Last Airbender. Filem ini melambangkan kerjasama ketujuh antara Howard dan M. Night Shyamalan, selepas filem 2008 The Happening. Most recently, Howard menerima acclaim for his work with Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight. Pada 13 Mei, 2009, penerbit Frank Marshall mengumumkan bahawa Howard sedang merakamkan muzik untuk the teaser trailer that was later released that summer; it was later confirmed by Frank Marshall that all of the film's trailers featured original music by Howard himself. The soundtrack, released by Lakeshore Records on June 29, 2010, required Howard to hire a 119-member ensemble. Running at approximately 66 minit, ia mengandung sebelas tracks yang panjangnya antara tiga hingga tujuh minit, dengan twelfth track, bernama "Airbender Suite" running at nearly eleven minutes. Ulasan untuk runut bunyi ini were modestly positive. Danuek Schweiger of IF Magazine memberi gred A kepada runut ini, mengatakan bahawa muzik kuat itu adalah only thing yang menyelamatkan filem, "[the] thematically trumpeting, mystically muscular score will let your imagination run wild in- even if that place with Shyamalan is once again best experienced in your own head.". Filmtracks' Christian Clemmensen, who spoke highly of Howard's previous credits, gave the score lima daripada lima bintang dan memuji kebolehan baru Howard untuk "[menggunakan] keempat-empat seksyen orkestra untuk mewakili keempat-empat unsur semula jadi secara individu," sambil mengkritikkan "narrative flow", which was attributed to the "non-chronological presentation" of the album.
The teaser trailer for the film was attached to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, released in theaters on June 24, 2009. The teaser trailer was also shown exclusively on the June 22, 2009 episode of Entertainment Tonight. The trailer shows Aang airbending in a temple which is being attacked by a multitude of Fire Nation ships. A theatrical trailer was to be released around Christmas 2009, but it was pushed back until February 2010 because not enough visual effects shots were completed. This trailer was attached to the Percy Jackson film released on February 12, 2010. A theatrical trailer was later released on March 25, 2010. It was then attached with How to Train Your Dragon. The last theatrical trailer is attached to Iron Man 2 which was released May 7, 2010.
The first TV spot for the film aired during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010. It showed parts of the film that were not shown in the teaser trailer and had no diagetic dialogue, but merely narration. On February 10, the theatrical trailer was released online. It shows multiple scenes from the film and is an expanded version of the first TV spot. McDonald's sold Happy Meals to promote the film.
Pada 9 Februari, 2010, Nickelodeon Consumer Products also debuted the upcoming line of toys based on The Last Airbender. It includes various 3 3/4-inch action figures, as well as larger, action-enabled figures, costumes and other props. Among the toys featured in the line were figures based on Aang, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and a fully ride-able Appa the Sky Bison. "We worked very closely with M. Night, the rest of the Paramount team and our in-house design team, along with our partner Spin-Master, to come up with the right assortment, the right size for these action figures and make sure we had representation of all the nations within the 'Airbender' series," said Nickelodeon's Lourdes Arocho. The Last Airbender action figures are expected to be released in three "waves"; wave one on June 1, wave two near the film's July release date, and wave three near the 2010 holiday season. THQ Studio Australia also developed a video game based on the film. Titled The Last Airbender, it was released on 29 June, 2010 untuk Wii and the Nintendo DS.
Two original black-and-white graphic novels, entitled The Last Airbender: Prequel: Zuko's Story and The Last Airbender, yang dilukis dalam gaya manga, ditulis oleh Dave Roman. “We’re excited to be working with Nickelodeon to bring these great stories to the manga audience,” says Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga. "Avatar: The Last Airbender has shown incredible crossover appeal with manga fans. The release of The Last Airbender movie and original tie-in manga gives us the chance to share completely new stories with Avatar fans looking for more about Aang, Zuko, and their favorite characters.” The second manga, The Last Airbender, illustrated by Joon Choi, was released on June 22, 2010. Written by Dave Roman and Allison Wilgus, the plot, like the film, is a condensed version of the first season of the series.
Prekuel, Zuko's Story (Cerita Zuko), dikarang oleh Alison Wilgus dan Dave Roman bersama-sama dan gambaran oleh Nina Matsumoto dan dikeluarkan pada 18 Mei 2010. Sinopsis novel grafik ini dikeluarkan pada awal 2010, "When Prince Zuko dared to question authority, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, banished him from the Fire Nation. Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko has wandered the earth for almost three years in search of his only chance at redemption: the Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance. Everyone he encounters believes that this is an impossible task, as the Avatar disappeared a century ago. But Zuko stubbornly continues the search. He must regain his honor, so his quest is all he has left." (Apabila Putera Zuko berani mencabar authority, bapanya, Fire Lord Ozai, membuangnya dari Negara Api. Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko telah merantau bumi hampir tiga tahun mencari peluangnya only chance at redemption: sang Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance. Semua orang yang ditemuinya mempercayai bahawa itu adalah tugas yang mustahil; sang Avatar telah lenyap sekurun lalu. Tetapi Zuko kekal meneruskan pencarian. He must regain his honor, so his quest is all he has left.)
Roman dan Wilgus, who developed comics based on Avatar: The Last Airbender for Nick Magazine, consulted Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Mike Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and head writer for the show Aaron Ehasz while they were developing Zuko's Story. The four wanted to try a comic that would fit into with the continuity of the show. The prequel, though mostly associated with the film, was meant to be a prequel to the series. Roman explained, "In a lot of ways, it’s like an expanded origin. With the film and the series, there are differences and there are places where they split off, but the setup for both is exactly the same — so when you’re introduced to the characters, that’s the part where they’re completely identical." The prequel allowed the expansions of different details told in the series; contohnya, episod bertajuk "The Blue Spirit" (Sang Roh Biru) dalam siri kartun dilihat dalam filem. However, since explaining everything that happened in that episode was hard to translate onto film, prekuel membolehkan mereka "delve" into that specific story. What more, when asked about whether he answered some questions that were left open at the end of the series, Roman stated that, while he had a very good relationship with the show's creators and got their blessing for his project, it wasn't his plot to address.
The Last Airbender was rumored to be released pada musim panas 2010 sebelum menerima tarikh keluaran rasmi iaitu 1 Julai 2010. Untuk mengelakkan kekeliruan dengan filem Avatar James Cameron, tajuk ditukar daripada Avatar: The Last Airbender ke The Last Airbender. Pada 16 Jun 2010, it was revealed that the film would be released pada 1 Julai 2010, and after questions about the definition of the release being limited or wide, was later confirmed by the studio to be a full nationwide release. The film premiered in New York City on June 30, 2010, and opened the following day in 3,169 theaters, against The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
The Last Airbender opened with $16 juta, which includes $3 juta from its midnight showing, and earned $16.6 juta pada hari berikutnya. The film ranked fifth for a Thursday opening at $16,350,000. After bringing in an estimated $40.3 juta over the three-day, Fourth of July weekend, its Monday gross brought its four-day total to an estimated $51.8 million and its five day total at an estimated $69.3 juta. 54% of its gross was from 3D presentations at 1,606 screens. After eight days, the film grossed $83.1 million, and was M. Night Shyamalan's second-best eight day gross, behind his 2002 film Signs, and after fifteen days, managed to accumulate $107.4 million. In its second weekend the film fell 59% compared to its first, and grossed an estimated $16.6 juta marking Shyamalan's most financially successful second weekend, and is also his highest-grossing film in the U.S. and Canada, since his 2004 film The Village. Opening overseas in 923 sites, the film grossed an estimated $9 million, $8 million of which was from 870 sites in Russia, making it the number one film there. The film grossed $9.4 million from its second weekend in overseas markets. The film is on the list of highest-grossing films of the summer of 2010. The film has now grossed $300,504,925 worldwide.
Critical reception of the film was panned by critics dan audience alike. Berdasakran 165 ulasan kumpulan Rotten Tomatoes, filem mendapat 7% "rotten" approval rating daripada para kritik, dengan purata skor 2.8/10. Antara Kritik Teratas (Top Critics), yang consists of popular dan notable critics dari surat khabar terkenal, laman web, televisyen, dan program radio, the film holds an overall approval rating of 7%. Walau bagaimanapun, masyarakat RT memberi skor 42% kepada filem itu. Sebagai bandingan, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 20, berdasarkan 33 ulasan. Undian CinemaScore melapor bahawa purata gred yang diberi cinemagoers adalah "C" menurut skala A+ ke F.
Liam Lacey of The Globe dan Mail stated the film tidak memberi cukup peluang mengembangkan watak dan therefore suffered, with the overall storyline of the film becoming a run-on narrative. Menurut, Owen Gleiberman dari Entertainment Weekly, "The Last Airbender keeps throwing things at you, but its final effect is, in every way, flat." Roger Ebert memberi filem setengah bintang dalam ulasannya, stating that it "membosankan dan mengasingkan penontonnya," dan notes the poor use of 3D among the film's faults. The A.V. Club memberi gred F kepada filem itu, criticizing the performances of the child actors, overuse of exposition, dan shoehorned 3D special effects, calling it the worst summer blockbuster of 2010. The Hollywood Reporter said the lack of correct casting caused the film to lose substantial credibility in regard to its source material but did praise the casting dan acting of the main character, Aang. Variety criticizes the casting, the scoring, dan the overall effect each play into making the film a bore.
Charlie Jane Anders in the review by io9 criticized "the personality-free hero, the nonsensical plot twists, the CG clutter, the bland romance, the new-age pablum...", concluding that "Shyamalan's true achievement in this film is that he takes a thrilling cult TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, dan he systematically leaches all the personality dan soul out of it — in order to create something generic enough to serve as a universal spoof of every epic, ever." Anders summarized the experience of watching the film by stating that, "Actually, my exact words when I walked out of this film were, 'Wow, this makes Dragonball Evolution look like a masterpiece.'" Ulasan Ain't It Cool News' menanyakan mengapa Shyamalan dibenarkan menulis skrip, as well why he was even chosen to direct such a high-profile film after a string of previous flops: "Burdened by [a] never-ending onslaught of expository dialogue awkwardly delivered by actors giving career-worst performances across the board, The Last Airbender is so outrageously bad it's a wonder it ever got before cameras."
Scott Bowles of USA Today gave a generally favorable review, claiming that Shyamalan delivered on fight scenes dan filem berfungsi sebagai filem kanak-kanak. He also added that poor scriptwriting made some of the performances sound wooden. Another favorable review came from Stephanie Zacharek of MovieLine, who praises the way Shyamalan captures the art of action dan human motion. David Roark of Relevant Magazine menuduh kritik lain berat sebelah terhadap Shyamalan lalu menberi filem ulasan positif, menyatakan bahawa visual dan hatinya far outweighed the shoddy script dan blatant mispronunciation nama watak utama.
Dalam wawancara Vulture, Shyamalan argued bahawa gaya dan art-form of storytelling resulted in the negative reviews of the film dan membandingkannya menyuruh seorang pengecat untuk berubah ke gaya yang berbeza, "I bring as much integrity to the table as humanly possible. It must be a language thing, in terms of a particular accent, a storytelling accent. I can only see it this certain way dan I don't know how to think in another language. I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don't know how to adjust it without being me."
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted an masalah linguistik unfortunate linguistic problem yang reduced penonton British ke "a state of nervous collapse". Dalam Bahasa Inggeris British perkataan "bender" adalah bahasa kasar untuk lelaki homoseks. Ini memberi maksud yang sangat berbeza kepada baris-baris seperti "I could tell at once that you were a bender, dan that you would realise your destiny." Bradshaw commented that the response from the audience to such lines was "deafeningly immature" dan akan "tanpa elakkan diulangi dalam setiap pawagam dalam negara yang menayangkan The Last Airbender". ("inevitably be repeated in every cinema in the land showing The Last Airbender)."
The Last Airbender telah dikeluarkan dalam format DVD dan Blu-ray pada 16 November, 2010. Pada masa yang sama, versi Blu-ray 3D juga dikeluarkan secara eksklusif di pelbagai kedai Best Buy.The Last Airbender mengaut sebanyak $12,757,094 dan menjual sebanyak 750,859 unit dalam minggu pertamanya dalam format DVD.
While there has been much speculation regarding a sequel, tiada pengumuman rasmi telah dikeluarkan daripada Shyamalan atau Paramount Studios dan Nickelodeon tentang izin "teruskan" ataupun pencabutan palam terhadap trilogi. Sementara mengfilem The Last Airbender, Shyamalan mapped out a rough draft untuk filem kedua yang lebih "gelap" dan memasukkan Azula, lakonan Summer Bishil, sebagai antagonis utama. Dalam wawancara Julai New York Magazine, Shyamalan mengkomen "Dalam bulan-bulan berikut kita akan dapat mengetahui samada kita ada peluang itu atau tidak" ("In the next few months we’ll be able to know whether we have that opportunity or not") apabila ditanya mengenai sekuel tersebut. Tiada pengumuman dibuat dan dalam wawancara September apabila ditanya bila sekuel itu akan dibuat, jawab beliau: "Saya tidak [tahu], kerana terdapat pelbagai faktor yang ditimbangi mereka" (“I don’t, because there are so many factors they take into account”), menambah, "Saya rasa ini akan sampai ke tahap dimana ia akan menjadi perbincangan - seperti kelebihan dan kelemahan" (”I guess it will get into an area where it becomes a discussion — like pros and cons”).