Is 'The Last Airbender' the next great Hollywood franchise?

Is 'The Last Airbender' the next great Hollywood franchise?

 

Constance Droganes, entertainment writer, CTV.ca

Date: Wednesday Jun. 30, 2010 7:03 AM ET

When you've played a 200-year-old vampire in "Twilight," settling for ordinary isn't that easy.
"The undead have been very good to me and my career. But I was ready for something different," says Jackson Rathbone, 25, best known as Twilight's serious vampire, Jasper Hale.
Rathbone got his wish in the new fantasy-adventure, "The Last Airbender."
Based on Nickelodeon's animated TV series, which aired from 2005 to 2008, this action-packed epic directed by M. Night Shyamalan casts Rathbone as the daring young warrior, Sokko.
Together with his sister Katara ("Deck the Halls'" Nicola Peltz) and a reluctant young hero named Aang (newcomer Noah Ringer), the trio set off on a perilous journey to save the world and restore harmony in the four realms of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.
"For me, this was a great chance to show my range as an actor," Rathbone told CTV.ca.
"Sokko isn't slapstick funny. He's very realistic. But he's a rebel. He's got many layers to him," he says.
The same is true of Katara, says 15-year-old Peltz.
"I loved the fact that this girl can kick ass. But she's loyal. She's tender. She's more complex and empowering than meets the eye," Peltz told CTV.ca.
These sibling adventurers are also kung fu aces, just like all those in this mythical Asian universe known as Waterbenders, Earthbenders, Firebenders and Airbenders.
Soon after Rathbone and Petz signed on, they headed to training boot camp on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles.
"Nicola is badass," laughs Jackson. "Nothing hurts her. But I was horrified and embarrassed by how truly awful I was when we started training."
Audiences could never tell. On screen, gravity-defying manoeuvres are everyone's forte here.
But it remains to be seen if Shyamalan new foray into 3-D adventure films will outshine his previous work.
"The Last Airbender" marks a sharp departure for Shyamalan, whose eerie 1999 blockbuster "The Sixth Sense" shot the 39-year-old director to fame and fortune.
Shyamalan settled on "Last Airbender" after watching the Nickelodeon series on DVD with his then-7-year-old daughter. The young girl was taken with the "empowered" female character, Katara.
Shyamalan's move was a risky one, but not entirely surprising.
After a string of critical and commercial disappointments like "The Happening" and "Lady in the Water," Shyamalan needed a comeback.
With "The Last Airbender," Shyamalan took square aim at children, families and what could be Hollywood's next big franchise.
"I know Night envisions ‘Last Airbender' as a trilogy," says Rathbone. "We'll have to wait and see how audiences respond."
The financial stakes are certainly high.
With a production cost of US$150 million and a marketing budget of US$130-million, "The Last Airbender" is more than twice as expensive as any of Shyamalan's previous eight films.
The film has also earned some early criticism for casting white actors in the roles of Asian action heroes.
But if "Last Airbender" succeeds, it will be for one reason alone says Rathbone.
"Right from the start, I thought of this film along the lines of ‘Star Wars" and ‘Lord of the Rings,'" says Rathbone.
"It's big. It's got tons of action and great special effects. But it's got heart," he says. "That's the real magic that makes this film fly."

credit by http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20100629/the-last-airbender-100630/