Avatar: The Last Airbender

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Kids Weekly, June 5, 2007

ORIGIN: An original Nicktoon animated series with Asian
influences, produced at the Nicktoons Studio in Burbank, CA.

CO-CREATORS: Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Konietzko’s other
credits include character designer on The Family Guy, assistant director for Mission Hill and King of the Hill
and art director on Nickelodeon’s Invader Zim. DiMartino’s credits include director at Film Roman on King
of the Hill, The Family Guy and Mission Hill.

TV SHOW: Avatar is a 2-D
animated action-adventure comedy series that airs regularly on Nickelodeon in
the U.S. on Saturday and Sundays at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. It made its debut in the
U.S. in February 2005 and internationally from April 2005. There are currently
40×30-minute episodes available.

In the series, the world is
divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Within each nation there
is an order of masters who possess the ability to manipulate their native
element, and who call themselves Waterbenders, Earthbenders, Airbenders, and
Firebenders. The most powerful bender in the world, and the only one who can
master all four elements, is the Avatar—a reincarnated being that is born
into each nation in a cycle.

The epic story of Avatar: The
Last Airbender follows the journey of
Aang, a 12-year-old boy who is torn between fulfilling his fate as the
long-awaited Avatar and just wanting to be a regular kid. Aang is called upon
to lead the fight against the vicious Fire Nation to restore balance in his
war-torn world. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara (Mae
Whitman) and her bull-headed warrior brother Sokka (Jack DeSena), Aang proceeds
on a perilous journey to save the world while sometimes shaking off his heavy
responsibilities so that he can enjoy being a kid.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

MAIN BROADCASTER: Produced by Nickelodeon US, the show airs across all of
Nickelodeon’s 35 international channels throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe and
Latin America. In the U.S., during the fourth quarter of 2006, Avatar was the highest-rated animated program on all TV among boys
aged 9-14.

TV SALES: Avatar has been
syndicated to more than 100 markets worldwide including ABC in Australia, TV
Globo in Brazil, YTV in Canada, TF1 in France, Televisa in Mexico, and GMTV in
the U.K. Avatar also airs in 10
languages around the world, including Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew,
Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Spanish and Turkish.

In December 2006, Virgin Atlantic
chose Avatar as the carrier’s in-flight
entertainment on all international flights. In the U.K. throughout January and
February 2007, Avatar rated as the
number-one program on Nicktoons and March 2007 saw Avatar receiving an 11 percent market share in Germany. In Latin
America, Avatar ranks as the second
most-watched program amongst teens aged 12-17 throughout Mexico, Brazil and
Colombia.

MAJOR TOY LICENSEES: Fisher-Price, Mattel, Paramount, THQ, LEGO, Upperdeck

PRODUCTS: Leading categories include trading cards, toys, home
video, interactive, and book and magazine publishing. Nickelodeon and Viacom
Consumer Products is currently rolling out a line of consumer products internationally
and to date, DVDs, action toys, trading cards, books, back-to-school products
and stationery have been successfully launched at retail. Avatar is the market’s number-one action figure in Benelux.
Nick.com’s first-ever full screen 3-D game player, Avatar: The Last
Airbender Autumn Twilight, has generated
over 2.5 million visits and 5.5 million PVs since its inception. In the U.S.,
an animated online comic book from Avatar
creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, launched on February 3—via
a dedicated Web site, www.avatarescape.com—during a four-week gaming
event called Avatar: Escape from the Spirit World. International territories included in this event were
France, Germany, Holland and the U.K.

STRATEGY FOR ROLL OUT: Unlike a typical animated half-hour series which contains
a story that begins and ends in the same episode, the story and characters in Avatar
are constantly evolving, with each episode’s
story continuing to the next episode. “The show is different for us because its
serialized to some extent,” says Marjorie Cohn, the executive VP of development
and original programming at Nickelodeon Networks and MTVN Kids & Family
Group. “There’s an overall epic journey that will be completed at the end of
the series. One of the things that attracted us to the property is that we were
looking for a general legends-and-lore kind of adventure-comedy and the legend
is so deep and rich and endless [in Avatar] that people really get immersed
into it.”

A martial arts expert also
consulted on the choreography of each action sequence in the series. “All the
bending was created from legitimate martial arts moves, so there’s a depth to
the show that I think appeals to people,” says Cohn.

Avatar is slightly more skewed toward boys, but it also appeals
to girls and older teens as well. “Most of these animé shows or animé-inspired
shows don’t really have any girl-entry points,” explains Cohn. “And as always
with Nickelodeon, we want to make sure that everyone can enjoy it. There is a
very strong girl character [and] boys still like her. ”

While Cohn accepts that
Nickelodeon’s most loved hit property is SpongeBob SquarePants, she points out that Avatar is working its way into the hearts and minds of kids
around the world. “We have a ton of Avatar fans out there because of the quality of the show, the
writing, how beautifully its drawn, [and] its serialized nature,” says Cohn. “This
show travels so well internationally because it’s a story that can appeal to
anybody. It’s about a kid growing up who still has to reach his potential.”