The first trailer for the movie Avatar: The Last Air Bender has been released.  The animated series film adaptation is being directed by M. Night Shyamalan, well known movie director (The Sixth Sense, Lady in the Water, The Happening).

Initially there were some worries about “someone known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that usually climax with a twist ending” directing a movie about an “anime style” kids show based on East Asian culture; those worries had calmed down after an interview were he stated that he watched the show with his daughters and they were all big fans.
Thought the trailer looks promising there has been some people, including fans and Asian rights groups, calling for a boycott of the movie if they do not change the cast. It appears that the actors selected for the role of the four main characters of the show: Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko are all Caucassian. In the show, the character Aang has Tibetan/Shaolin features, while the siblings Katara and Sokka have Inuit features, and the villian (later friend) Zuko has East Asian features.  Recently, the actor for the character Zuko (originally cast as Jesse McCartney, a blond, blue-eyed popstar), has been changed to Dev Patel (actor from the movie Slumdog Millionaire), which although being of Indian descent, it hasn’t calmed the protest groups.

The movie is set for release on summer 2010.

(Let’s just hope that this doesn’t end like other film adaptations of animated series.)