As a casual fan of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, I was beyond excited when I found out an animated movie was in the works. The Legend of Korra gives a peek into what their lives were like as adults, and cameos of their elderly selves. This movie will help fill that gap, especially for me since I wasn’t strong enough to finish The Legend of Korra. I still eat up the edits though.
While watching edits, I actually came across what I thought was a clip from a preview of the new movie. It was HD quality, just gorgeous, and really long. Maybe 2 minutes on a single scene, and I scrolled away thinking, that’s a weird preview. I don’t want spoilers, I just want sneak peeks, my goddess. Well, there was no preview. Literally a day later I scrolled past a video claiming the entire movie got leaked…
Since then I’ve been avoiding more leaked footage. Personally, I want to watch the movie for the first time in theaters, spoiler-free. Unfortunately, this is also when I found out that Paramount was no longer giving the movie a theatrical release, which is crazy to me. Avatar is such a beloved IP with a huge fanbase. If any animated movie was perfect for a huge theatrical release, this is it, no?
There’s a lot of speculation as to why Paramount did this, but all anyone can agree on is that it’s a horrible situation for the animators, especially now that the movie has been leaked months before its release in October of 2026.
I really think Paramount fumbled hard with their decision not to release this movie in theaters. From the clips I’ve accidentally seen, the movie looks gorgeous. We totally missed an opportunity for a huge cultural moment — something like when the new Demon Slayer movie was released in theaters, or how Project Hail Mary has been extended due to high demand. It would have been a win-win situation: money would be made for the studio, and memories would be made for the fans.
Since this won’t be possible, I looked into Paramount, seeing as how it’s the only place to watch. Somehow, I have even more bad news. People hate this platform. According to Trustpilot, an online review platform, Paramount+ has a 1.2-star rating out of five. Which is not great, but most streaming platforms don’t have above 2 stars on here, including Netflix (1.6), Disney+ (1.3), and HBO Max (1.3). So was the only reason I was seeing so much hate for Paramount because of the leaks and lack of theatrical release? Or are the frequent complaints about buffering, connection issues, and excessive ads still valid? I would say it’s valid.
Personally, I think this has less to do with Paramount and more to do with a growing frustration and oversaturated market. There are a million streaming services all trying to get you to subscribe. Your favorite movies and shows are spread out across them all, leaving or arriving elsewhere—not to mention password-sharing crackdowns (cough Netflix cough cough). All these subscriptions add up, and it’s entirely unrealistic to pay for all the ones you want.
It really makes me miss the age of DVDs. I still have a bunch, and thank god my DVD player still works. Maybe I have to explain to my younger sister and cousins how not to handle them to avoid scratching the disc, but it’s a one-time purchase. And it’ll never be removed from my personal library, will it?
Personally, I’m crossing my fingers for a DVD resurrection. We’ve seen it with digital cameras, with iPods and CDs. I don’t want to pirate Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, but I also don’t want to subscribe to Paramount+ for just one movie. However, I’d absolutely buy the DVD.