It will succeed economically because the Nickelodeon cartoon is based on is so well beloved, fondly regarded and has millions of fans (kids and no quite so kids). Several of my friends were cast as extras. I went through 2 auditions and one costume fitting and set call before being told they could not use me because I was too short
. They still paid me for those days. I was very disappointed. I might still watch it. It's supposed to be a trilogy. If I like he first one I will watch the next two.
For those of you not familiar with the cartoon, it relates the story of four nations at war, each one controls (or "bends") one of the four Western Elements: water, earth, fire and air. Only the Avatar, which is reincarnated among the different nations, can master all four elements. The last Avatar (which was an airbender) was lost for a century before being found frozen by two young members of the water tribe from the South pole. During his absence and taking advantage of a comet that approached earth, the fire nation attacked the other three (The Water tribe, the Earth Kingdom and the Air monks).
Each element bending is based on a different martial art: water (tai chi), fire (northern shaolin), earth (hung gar) and air (baguazhang). The creators have gone on record in several interviews stating this. My only concern is that the director has not have a hit movie since "the Sixth Sense". I just hope they stay faithful to the cartoon.
By the way, the casting of a white kid as "Ang", the main character has being highly controversial.
