Personally, I think it could've done something like 400m total.
According to television stats, it was #40 on Netflix and the live action on Netflix was #79. The Live action and Korra probably made it so that there's a solid crossover between Gen Z and Gen Alpha for viewership.
Animation is growing more prominent at the BO, and this mix of 2D and 3D is something that audiences seem particularly responsive to with Spiderverse and Demon Slayer both performing really well. Obviously full 3D is still the most popular form, but mixing 2D and 3D tends to do decently.
I think, having watched the leak, that it being pretty amazing visually would also help it. It would almost certainly be the best-looking animated theatrical movie of 2026 if it had released.
Obviously, we'll never know and Paramount never did a marketing campaign, but what do you guys think?
by EffectiveMirror7534
27 Comments
Honest to God about 250 mil max, world wild would miss out on key demographics not being interested in the franchise.
Not much. The newest SpongeBob movie couldn’t even make $200M
Why would you assume an April release it was always scheduled for either January or October
Paramount does not give a shit about avatar as a long time fan 230 max
I’m a huge ATLA fan, and I don’t think it would have made very much at all.
I honestly think it could’ve grossed like $300m WW. I feel like with shonen anime being as big as it is now, a movie like this would’ve definitely captured that same “hype moments and aura’ demographic that makes stuff like Jujutsu Kaisen blow up on Twitter every week with a different clip. Plus, the original show is a decently nostalgic property, so old fans would’ve definitely been hyped to see it in theaters
After Last Airbender destroyed the brand value it won’t even hit $100 mn.The franchise needs a complete revamp.It would be better if they do an anime series which is a full fledged reboot with an acclaimed manga writer along with Micheal and Bryan collaborating.
Would the entire movie get leaked like in this timeline?
Does ATLA have an international audience?
I’d like to think it would’ve make anywhere around 150-200 million WW. Has zero interest from East Asian markets, but it’s popular in South America still.
None because it would have leaked
I love avatar, but 400 million is waaaay to high. Avatar would likely max out at about 200 million assuming it’s amazing, which is a great number for an anime influenced film. From what I’ve heard Avatar is not really that popular in Japan and most of asia which carries the box office for anime films.
I honestly think it would’ve overperformed (i think it was supposed to release in October though)
At the very least 500 million dollars WW. ATLA is the biggest Nickelodeon property, its fans range from kids to people in their 30s. Every single kid born in the 2000s probably has seen it. Honestly it’s bigger than Demon Slayer, and we saw how that performed.
Plus the timing of release is just right. We haven’t seen the original characters in a long time, enough to be nostalgic and excited for it, even it doesn’t deliver. Think The Force Awakens.
Paramount just burned half a billion by throwing it on streaming imo (and burned even more by letting it leak in its entirety months in advance). Pure incompetence on the leadership’s part
Probably would’ve been front-loaded. It would open huge, but then have soft legs afterwards, or WOM would’ve carried it.
idc it would’ve made at least $20 from me I wanted to see that shit on the big screen
I’m a huge fan of the show, glad they’re doing the og cast, but I just want a continuation of where we left off. A big part of the magic was the voice cast being perfect, not sure being adults with different VA will have the same appeal
If it’s already made, why not just put it in theaters??
If they put in theaters, there’s an expectation to do some marketing. But I can’t imagine they wouldn’t recoup those marketing costs within a week or two at the box office. It just seems like an easy win-win. It may not pass $200m, but even if they spent $50m on marketing (I seriously doubt they’d spend that much for a movie like this with a built-in audience), they’d turn a profit. Idk, I feel like there’s a 90% chance they turn SOME profit, so why not just release it in theaters?? What’s making these studio execs so scared?
This series ended almost a decade ago, its audience was mostly millennial I’d say.
I do not care Paramount was very stupid for shafting this movie, Gen Z and millennials would’ve definitely carried this movie especially since it’s still loved everywhere. SpongeBob isn’t a good comparison due to it not having a huge fanbase like Avatar does
It would have come in under $100 million. $80-$90 is my guess. Remember, Airbender is not popular internationally. It‘s why Ellison wanted to dump it in the first place. It doesn’t have the international audience of a Demon Slayer or a Chainsaw Man.
I think it would make 100-150 million dollars. I doubt paramount would spend basically anything to market it and the buget was 80 million so even then I think it could have broken even.
Well it wouldn’t beat Cameron Avatar at the worldwide box office so all the ATLA that hate that version would be devastated.
Probably as big of a flop as the M.Night version financially.
People don’t want to hear this, but it’s not that execs hate ATLA and hate money that comes from ATLA. They ran this movie through focus groups and maybe viewed it for themselves and decided it’s streaming quality.
You seem to have liked the leak, but word is from a lot that the plot and the voice acting is a problem. The visuals are the main strength and that’s not enough to inspire a large box office return.
Breaks my heart as a ATLA fan but it is what it is.
200-250 m
100M WW in the best case scenario. I think it would’ve performed much like the last two Dragon Ball films.
Sub-100m