The first of three Avatar: The Last Airbender animated feature films gets an official release date. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the popular Nickelodeon series from 2005, signed with the newly formed Avatar Studios in 2021 to expand the Avatar franchise, beginning with three animated films. The first ATLA film will revolve around Avatar Aang and his friends from the original show, which saw Aang, Sokka, Katara, Zuko, and Toph working to unite the nations and end the Hundred-Year War by defeating the tyrannical Fire Lord Ozai.
After nearly two years in development, the first Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film will come to theaters just under three years from now. According to Variety, Paramount announced the official release date of the untitled Avatar project as October 10, 2025. The studio reiterates that it will be an Aang Avatar film, but shares no additional plot details. ATLA veteran Lauren Montgomery will direct, with Konietzko, DiMartino, and Eric Coleman producing.
What To Expect In The Upcoming ATLA Movies
Paramount's release date for the untitled Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film initially seems lightyears away, and several factors could be at play regarding the long wait time for audiences to see the ATLA movie in theaters. First, Avatar Studios may want to take its time ensuring that the quality of the film will be spectacular, and animated movies often require years of development. The company may also need to account for other big Paramount Studios releases down the line, such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Finally, it could also desire to distance itself from the upcoming live-action Avatar series on Netflix.
Consideration for the Netflix show, which Konietzko and DiMartino stepped away from in 2020, is the least likely factor in the ATLA film's future release date, but could still have impacted the 2025 announcement regardless. The series wrapped production this year, making a 2023 premiere the logical next step. The extended time leading up to release allows Avatar Studios to focus on quality control. After all, the fledgling studio's first animated feature has to live up to the success of Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra.
As far as what to expect in the upcoming film, Paramount only offered a little to go on, but it will probably include an original story. Korra already covered a critical moment in adult Aang's life (defeating the bloodbender Yakone), and most supplemental ATLA media only covers the two years following Aang's defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. With little else to go on regarding young adult Aang's accomplishments, the plot of the first Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film depends entirely on its creators' imagination.
Source: Variety