New Avatar: The Last Airbender Movie Coming, Avatar Studios To Expand Franchise

Nickelodeon is establishing a new division dedicated entirely to creating content in the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise. Avatar Studios is being run by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, creators of the original animated series. The duo will also serve as co-chief creative officers as the studio creates new animated series and movies set in the world of Avatar.

As reported by Deadline, Avatar Studios will produce content that will be aired on Nickelodeon, the home of the original series and its spin-off, The Legend of Korra. The content will also make its way to Paramount+, as well as third-party platforms. Theatrical releases are also expected for the movies.

An animated movie is the first project for Avatar Studios and will begin production later this year.

"Avatar The Last Airbender and [The Legend of Korra] have grown at least ten-fold in popularity since their original hit runs on Nickelodeon, and Ramsey Naito and I are incredibly excited to have Mike and Bryan's genius talent on board to helm a studio devoted to expanding their characters and world into new content and formats for fans everywhere," said ViacomCBS Kids & Family president Brian Robbins.

"Creator-driven stories and characters have long been the hallmarks of Nickelodeon, and Avatar Studios is a way to give Mike and Bryan the resources and runway to open up their imaginations even more and dive deeper into the action and mythology of Avatar as we simultaneously expand upon that world and the world of content available on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon."

Beyond the two existing animated series, Avatar has branched out into comic books with some success. Less successful, however, was a live-action adaptation directed by M. Night Shyamalan, which was critically panned and is derided by fans. Netflix is currently working on an Avatar series, but the franchise's original creators are no longer involved.