^{Credit: The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender (Paramount)}

In 2008, Avatar: The Last Airbender debuted its four-part series finale, “Sozin’s Comet,” which played like a feature-length film. Many fans wished “Sozin’s Comet” had been released as a theatrical movie. It seemed their desire to see an Avatar film on the big screen would be fulfilled almost two decades later, when it was announced that Paramount would release the feature, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, in theaters. In an era largely dominated by CG, the idea of a 2D Avatar film receiving wide theatrical distribution sounded too good to be true, not to mention uncharacteristic for a company like Paramount. That’s because it was.

Initially slated to release in theaters on October 9, 2026 after several delays, news broke this December that The Legend of Aang will instead go straight to the streaming platform, Paramount+. It’s one of the many questionable decisions Paramount has made amid its merger with Skydance. Between caving to Trump with their 60 Minutes lawsuit, cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and their relentless/desperate pursuit of acquiring Warner Bros., scrapping The Legend of Aang’s theatrical release might not be the most controversial choice that Paramount made this year. It is one of the most disappointing, however. And yes, it’s ironic that Paramount moved this film to streaming right after promising they’d keep Warner Bros. releases theatrical if they accepted their offer.

While Paramount hasn’t given an official reason for the shift to streaming, the news comes on the heels of two commercial misfires from the company: Smurfs and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. In addition to barely doubling its $58 million budget, Smurfs was such a critical failure that Paramount didn’t even submit it for Best Animated Feature consideration. Paramount did submit The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, although that film hasn’t performed much better during its theatrical run so far. While nobody expected it to outgross Avatar: Fire and Ash (not the same one with Aang), Search for SquarePants at least seemed like it could open at #2. Instead, it fell behind another animated movie, David, and The Housemaid. If SpongeBob, Nickelodeon's biggest cash cow, could fall short at the box office, one can imagine why Paramount wouldn't have much faith in a film that picks up with characters whose story initially ended almost twenty years ago. 

Whether or not this factored into Paramount’s decision, The Legend of Aang shouldn’t be compared to Smurfs or SpongeBob. The Eastern-inspired film shares more in common with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, an anime feature with a built-in fanbase. Not only did Infinity Castle become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, but it was a huge commercial hit in the States, making more than Elio, The Bad Guys 2, or Dog Man domestically. The further success of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, another anime film, proved that Infinity Castle wasn’t a fluke. Paramount isn’t just leaving potential millions on the table by not giving The Legend of Aang a theatrical run. They’re blowing their shot at a Best Animated Feature nomination at the 99th Academy Awards.

It’s hard to say what the Oscar race will look like next year with animated films like Sony’s GOAT, Pixar’s Hoppers, Toy Story 5, Disney’s Hexed, Laika’s Wildwood, and Cartoon Saloon’s Julián in the conversation. If The Legend of Aang lives up to The Last Airbender’s legacy, though, it could’ve been an Oscar player. With Infinity Castle recently getting a Golden Globe nomination, possibly inching toward an Oscar nomination, The Legend of Aang’s Oscar prospects looked promising until this news. Even if The Legend of Aang goes straight to streaming, it could still contend for Oscar consideration. Netflix gave KPop Demon Hunters a limited theatrical run, qualifying it for Best Animated Feature. Paramount could do the same for The Legend of Aang, although it seems more likely to follow the path of Hulu’s Predator: Killer of Killers, which will compete at the Emmys instead.

Avatar: The Last Airbender received an Individual Achievement Emmy for Sang-Jin Kim's work on the episode "Lake Laogai." That same year, the episode "City of Walls and Secrets" was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program, but it lost to South Park for "Make Love, Not Warcraft." Over the following years, Avatar submitted the episodes "The Puppet Master" and "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno" for Outstanding Animated Program consideration, but neither was nominated. The sequel series, The Legend of Korra, won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Casting For An Animated Series or Special. Yet, the franchise as a whole never quite got the recognition it should've from the Emmys. 

The Annies were more receptive toward Avatar: The Last Airbender, winning Best Animated Television Production for Children in 2009. Although not part of the Avatar universe, The Dragon Prince was co-created by Aaron Ehasz, who was a head writer on The Last Airbender series. The Dragon Prince won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Animated Series in 2020, around the same time Avatar was going through a resurgence on Netflix. If The Legend of Aang delivers, it would be highly satisfying to see it win an Emmy. It deserves a shot at an Oscar nomination, however. 

It isn’t too late for Paramount to reverse their decision. There’s been an outcry of support to release The Legend of Aang in theaters, sparking a petition on Change.org. Will this make a difference? Probably not, as Paramount seems more interested in driving users to their streaming service. While the Avatar franchise has significantly grown its following through streaming, that success very well could’ve expanded to the theatrical front (terrible live-action remakes notwithstanding). Perhaps some will cancel their Paramount+ subscriptions in protest. Of course, then they won’t be able to watch The Legend of Aang whenever it drops.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!