Shyamalan's Biggest Twist: Last Airbender Box Office Return

Since it's release, The Last Airbender has garnered universal hatred among critics. Be it professional reviewers or bloggers; fans or non-fans. Just about everybody is saying this movie blows. For my own part, I haven't seen it. I probably will, at some point. For the record I am a huge Avatar fan. The series is one of my all time favorite shows. The movie, regardless of it's shit factor, can never take away my love for the Avatar TV series.



The finger of blame rests solely on Director M. Night Shyamalan. The film has a myriad of weaknesses: wonky dialogue, wooden acting, a confusing plot. All of the faults trace back to Mr. Shyamalan. The once well respected director has become a target of ridicule in the last few years. His latest handful of cinematic outings have been meet with vehement disgust. The Last Airbender seems like the lowest point of this fall from grace.

But here's the thing. This little mess with Last Airbender, it has a twist. Yes a big old Shyamalan style twist. While people bash this movie six ways from Sunday, they contiune to turn out to see it. The exact reasons are unclear. Perhaps it is loyalist fans who are willing to ingore harsh reality and accept ths movie as it is. Or maybe it is the morbidly curious. The same bunch of folks who turn out to see every "Worst Movie Ever Made" (a moniker that is as overused as it is pointless).

Reasons aside, audiences are going and as a result the film has already made $74 million. At this rate, the film is all but certain to make it's $150 million budget back. This turn of events is above Paramount's expectations. When the first film of a planned series does finically well, then the sequels are virtually a given. The quality doesn't matter. If quality mattered then Paramount would have stepped in a fixed the film before release. The cold hard truth is they could care less. The film is based on a mega popular TV show. A show largely aimed at children, one of Hollywood's most prized and impressionable demographic.

In the long run, critical response means nothing. We, as a collective audience, like to thing it does. We truly want to believe that quality matters. But artistic integrity will bow down to profit. That is just the nature of film making on the Hollywood level. Once Last Airbender recoups its budget, Paramount will greenlight the next film. Why not? They have little to lose. Even if Last Airbender 2 is a critcal flop, the same mass of people that turned out for the first will return. Delusional fans and bad movie lovers are insurance that The Last Airbender will be a complete film trilogy.

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Paramount will scrap The Airbender series. Maybe they will put it on haitus until another director can come along with a fresh new reboot. But I really doubt it. I am almost certain that in a few months Paramount will release an offical statement confirming Last Airbender 2. And if that happens then M Night has succeded in pulling off his greatest twist of all.

484