M. Night Shyamalan, the director, who was prodigal with his Hollywood success pursuing stories about the supernatural before stumbling badly in his last two paintings, hopes to return to the stage of the film with the two giants of the consumer experience: Nickelodeon and McDonald's.
The last film Shyamalan, "The Last Airbender," which opens today, marks a dramatic point of departure for the director, whose 1999 blockbuster "The Sixth Sense" shot 29-year-old director to fame and fortune. A fantastic adventure story based on the Nickelodeon cartoon series is aimed directly at children and families, genre and audience that the director largely avoided.
Now, to get back on track after the huge disappointment of critics and "Events" and "Lady in the Water," Shyamalan is only seeking a ransom, that Hollywood recognizes - a film with a potential customer base and a lot of name recognition. He even met with advertising partners, film, McDonald's, which serves up "The Last Airbender" Good food, and shot and will be available on television "The Last Airbender" Flip video camera.
"Over the past 10 years, I work in the handicraft industry in the supernatural," said Shyamalan. "And I always had my eye on keeping the franchise."
Director, which provides for "The Last Airbender" as a trilogy, said a series of Nickelodeon interested him, because he gives "the story detailed, and covers the area of personal interest: martial arts, mysticism and spirituality.
Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" aired from 2005 to 2008, and the Centers for Ang, young avatar who controls the elements water, fire, air and land, and has the power to restore peace in war-torn world.
Dear Risk
"Last Airbender" is also of great games of chance for Paramount Pictures. Viacom Inc-owned studio, and a sister company Nickelodeon fully financed film, which increases the risk of it should perform below expectations. If the production cost of $ 150 million and the size of the blockbuster $ 130 million marketing budget, "Last Airbender" is more than twice as expensive than any of the previous 8 films Shyamalan.
And given the recent Shyamalan misses some are questioning the wisdom of Paramount in the transfer to him of such a large project, especially one designed to carry studio in high season of popcorn cinema. But Paramount CEO Brad Grey said he was not worried.
After years of toying with the idea of making a larger-scale film Shyamalan said he finally settled on "The Last Airbender" after viewing the Nickelodeon series on DVD along with his 7-year-old daughter, who was taken with the "empowered" female character, Qatar .
He urged Gray to break it to the idea of adaptation is shown in the movie.
"This is the beginning of a long odyssey, and dance to get a movie of this magnitude is approved," recalled Shyamalan. "It's humiliating to think of trust, they are what I'm talking about. This is not a small film."
There were other changes to the director of its past practice.
"The Last Airbender" is the first film Shyamalan made that was not based on his own idea.
Extensive visual effects movie and 3-D shots made it the most technically complex production, he has overseen. And shooting in adverse Greenland was only the second time Shyamalan film shot outside his old home near Philadelphia.
Paramount Gray said he is optimistic about the prospects of a commercial film based on audience reaction in the test films and the strong provisional "track", especially among men.
"Airbender", but will face stiff competition for women viewers, as they will flock to the "Twilight Saga: The Eclipse", which opened on Wednesday.
"I hope, after, see" Eclipse ", they will come to see our movie," Shyamalan said.
