The ongoing ramifications of the leak of The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender online last week continue to be a major reflection on Paramount’s broader stewardship of the series. But one repeated topic of debate that has come up is thanks to the only other prominent news we’ve had about the film practically since it was announced: Paramount’s confirmation late last year that it was shifting Legend of Aang from a franchise-first theatrical debut to a Paramount+ streaming exclusive.
Fans have debated endlessly in the past week over whether or not resharing clips from the film or watching it wholesale online is justified as a form of protest against the decision to release Legend of Aang in theaters. But while the stars of the new movie have stayed silent, and some former Avatar voice actors have started to speak out against watching the film out of respect to the work of its animators, some have started taking a different tack.
“I’ve skimmed it. The art looks beautiful. Here’s my thing. If it was going to be the actual release, right, it’d be like, ‘don’t watch it, because it takes away from the box office,’” Olivia Hack, who voiced rambunctious young firebender Ty Lee in The Last Airbender, recently said at a panel at Supanova Melbourne in Australia (via Collider), which also featured Last Airbender stars Zach Tyler Eisen (the voice of Aang himself), Jack De Sena (Sokka), Michaela Jill Murphy (Toph), and Jennie Kwan (Suki).
“Paramount has my nickel. I already subscribed,” Hack continued. “So I skimmed it, and the art looks gorgeous. And I haven’t watched it [all] yet. Release it in theaters. That’s what I’m saying. And when you do watch it, you can see. I mean, it’s really spectacular.”
It’s kind of wild to see someone associated with the series, if only distanced from the movie itself, advocate for watching the film in its current form unless Paramount changes tack and pivots to a theatrical release again. But it speaks to the general level of malaise Avatar fans have towards its executive owners at this point, after years of mistreatment, that even people involved with the broader series would talk about a leak like this—even if it is to try and convince the studio to let the movie be seen as it was originally intended to be.
In the meantime, Paramount is continuing its investigation into the leak of the film, and otherwise quietly taking down whatever clips and files make their way onto social media. Whenever it actually intends to talk about the movie beyond the leak to promote it, considering it’s meant to be out in six months, remains to be seen.
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