How The Last Airbender’s Netflix popularity led to new expanded universe
Avatar: The Last Airbender is on its way to getting an expanded universe of of its very own, with lots of new content courtesy of Avatar Studios. Why is it expanding now? A lot of it has to do with the show’s streaming success on Netflix in 2020, which led to a surge of interest. The Nickelodeon show always had a dedicated fanbase, but bringing it to streaming services — especially in the midst of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders — helped it accumulate new fans.
According to Nickelodeon president and CEO Brian Robbins, that was all the evidence the company needed to lean into The Last Airbender‘s success. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Robbins traced how it all happened:
"Avatar: The Last Airbender was a series that ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon and was never a huge show, but had an amazing following. We licensed that show to Netflix and it exploded. Then we put this spinoff of Avatar, The Legend of Korra, on Paramount+, and it crushed it. That led us to our new relationship and bringing the creators of Avatar back to Nickelodeon to form Avatar Studios. We are now on our way to a full-fledged franchise strategy, creating films and spinoffs out of Avatar."
That franchise strategy includes movies and films, most of which will live exclusively on Paramount+, so watch the original shows on Netflix while you can.
Avatar Studios is part of Nickelodeon’s comeback plan
During his conversation with THR, Robbins also revealed that Avatar Studios is part of a bigger plan to make Nickelodeon bounce back and hold its own against competitors like Disney and Netflix. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Nickelodeon was one of the biggest players when it came to family content. Robbins would like to see the company reach that level again:
"There is only a certain amount of A-list talent, whether that’s in animation or live-action, in the kids space and it’s a seller’s market. It’s not a buyer’s market. Ramsey Naito [president of Nickelodeon Animation] is really loved in the business. We’ve been fortunate that people want to come back home to Nick and work there. And to be honest, Nick had lost its way for a while."
In addition to creating more spinoffs of The Last Airbender, Nickelodeon plans to rejuvenate other popular classics, including Blue’s Clues and The Fairly Odd Parents. Doing so could very well give Paramount+ the traction it needs to stay competitive in the streaming scene.
Next. The Last Airbender isn't anime, but a "love letter" to anime. dark
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