Even before the doors opened on the 2008 Licensing International Expo, Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures had big news: M. Night Shyamalan, the celebrity director best known for twist-ending films like THE SIXTH SENSE and THE VILLAGE, would be helming a live-action feature film version of Nickelodeon's popular AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER animated series, due out the July 4 weekend of 2010.
The lights dimmed and a sizzle reel of scenes from the series began the event. Cyma Zarghami, President of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group took the stage and noted Nick's 14th consecutive year as the number-one cable network as well as Nickelodeon Movies' upcoming releases ANGUS, THONGS AND PERFECT SNOGGING and HOTEL FOR DOGS. She praised Shyamalan as a "true enthusiast" of AVATAR and in promoting his promised "initiatives to super-serve" the show's fans and make Shyamalan's film "the first chapter of this movie franchise."
In a nod to the studio's current superhero release, John Lesher, president of Paramount Film Group and Rob Moore, the studio's vice chairman took the stage to the tune of Black Sabbath's IRON MAN. They promised Shyamalan's AVATAR would be "a rare movie event" that would appeal to global audience and turn AVATAR into a franchise with a "long and prosperous future."
A montage of ominous and moody scenes from Shyamalan's films followed by way of introducing the director (who was in New York City to promote his about-to-be-released THE HAPPENING.) "I've been looking to do a family-type movie forever," he noted, saying that he toyed with the idea of doing a franchise film earlier but nothing had come of discussions with various studios. With his 4-year old daughter obsessed with AVATAR, the series soon came to his attention -- and Shyamalan called Paramount to tell them "I think you have another STAR WARS here."
The director showed the gathering the presentation video he put together for the project, using clips from existing fantasy and sophisticated martial arts films to illustrate the four societies (the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation) comprising AVATAR's world, followed by pre-production drawings of sets and environments from Shyamalan's work-in-progress.
"I said STAR WARS had religion in it," he added, saying Lucas's epic reached for the same archetypal stories "that had been told for thousands of years. AVATAR's fans are irrational in the way they're committed to the show. I'd been waiting for a project with that religion in it; it had to be something I'm seeing God in. There are incredible Shakespearean elements as well -- battling siblings, fathers and sons, and vanished princes."
According to Shyamalan, the script he wrote already contained 20 action sequences (a style his films to date have not explored). "CGI always scared me," he said, by way of noting the film will include creatures who are "morphs of two different animals.
"I storyboarded the entire movie -- twice. Every frame was drawn out," he continued, adding that set construction would begin in August, and location shooting was set for Greenland and Vietnam. As for Aang, the Airbender himself, "We looked at thousands of amazing kids, and I believe we found the next superstar," Shyamalan added without naming the kid in question. "The Monday after we open," he concluded, "every kid in America will be trying to bend milk out of his glass."
Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon and Viacom's Consumer Products division wrapped up the event. Like Shyamalan, she noted the show's rabid following that expresses itself via fan fiction websites and conventions filled with people dressed as AVATAR characters. As she spoke, the screen behind her displayed photos of those fans, including one who had shaved the arrow adorning Aang's head into his own hair. "These are the people who are going to help us," she said. "We're going to use them to promote the film -- they're your new viral marketing team."
Nickelodeon also announced the debut of new product lines for NI HAO, KAI-LAN -- the first animated preschool series to incorporate Chinese culture and Mandarin Chinese language -- and NEOPETS -- the world's most youth-engaging virtual world and one of the stickiest on the web. Additionally, NVCP unveiled the first of many Slime! branded products, along with expansion programs for Nickelodeon's most popular characters including SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, DORA THE EXPLORER, THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND and GO, DIEGO, GO!.
--Reporting By Joe Strike
