‘Last Airbender’ fans will fight to see their ‘Avatar’ in theaters

Just before Christmas, Paramount announced its move The Legend of Aang, the first theatrical animated film for Avatar: The Last Airbender, from a theatrical release to Paramount+. Reactions to this news ranged from shock to consternation angry at this proposal, and now fans of the 2005 children’s series are trying to do something about it.

Avatar recently launched fans an online petition so that the studio puts Aang back on its theater list, which at the time of writing has more than 18,000 signatures. As petition author Ananth wrote, Paramount’s decision was “a disappointment to the dedicated fandom.” [for Aang]…will amplify its reach, attracting curious viewers who might not interact with streaming platforms, expanding its audience exponentially.

Comments under the petition are filled for a long time Avatar fans are expressing support for Paramount to put the film back in theaters, with one in particular gaining attention online. It would be that of a user under the name “Steve Ahn”, the same name as the co-director of Legend of Aang—this expressed his frustration with the studio. “I worked on this film, first as head of one of the teams, then as director. Very frustrated by the decisions of the studio superiors,” we can read in the comment. In addition to calling for a theatrical release, the commentary claimed that there were “MANY frustrating and unfair actions” taken by Paramount.

However, Ahn he himself has since stated on Twitter that he did not make this “misleading comment” and wanted to clarify this in light of the mention of disclosing information about the film’s production. “I hope that this official clarification will prevent any further rumors or false speculation, and I sincerely hope that the artists dedicated to this film will not be unfairly criticized or put in a difficult position because of such unauthorized comments,” he added.

I am truly grateful for the passion shown in the Avatar petition. However, I should point out that someone pretended to be me and left a misleading comment. I am not the author of this post and I hope this official clarification prevents any further rumors or false speculation.

–Steve Inchang Ahn (@steveahn82) December 26, 2025

Even without Ahn’s explicit support behind them, the Avatar the fandom is clearly not excited about this topic Legend of Aang being moved to streaming. Whatever the reason for not liking it, it’s really not great that a studio can suddenly upend the way a movie is released. What’s going on with The Legend of Aang is not much different from the days when networks were cancel shows they had already renewed – and if anything, this decision became even more worrying because Paramount has projects on swallow up other studios.

The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender will be released sometime in 2026. Whether that also includes a theatrical window is entirely up to Paramount.

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