– CLAUDIA ELLER

McClatchy Newspapers

M. Night Shyamalan, the director who became a prodigal Hollywood success with his haunting stories of the supernatural before stumbling badly with his past two pictures, hopes to stage a comeback with a movie involving two giants of the consumer experience: Nickelodeon and McDonald’s.

Shyamalan’s latest film, “The Last Airbender,” which opens today, marks a sharp departure for the filmmaker, whose 1999 blockbuster “The Sixth Sense” shot the 29-year-old director to fame and fortune. The fantasy-adventure story based on a Nickelodeon animated TV series is aimed squarely at kids and families, a genre and audience that the filmmaker has largely eschewed.

Now, to get back on track after the huge commercial and critical disappointments of “The Happening” and “Lady in the Water,” Shyamalan is seeking the only redemption that Hollywood recognizes — a movie with franchise potential and plenty of brand-name recognition. He even met with the movie’s promotional partner, McDonald’s, which is serving up “Last Airbender” Happy Meals, and he shot and appears in TV spots selling “Last Airbender” Flip video cameras.

“For the last 10 years, I’ve been working in a cottage industry of the supernatural,” Shyamalan said. “And I’ve always had my eye on doing a franchise.”

The filmmaker, who envisions “Last Airbender” as a trilogy, said the Nickelodeon series interested him because it lent itself to “long-form storytelling” and encompassed areas of personal interest: martial arts, mysticism and spirituality.

Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” aired from 2005 to 2008. It centered on Aang, a young avatar who controls the elements of water, fire, air and earth and holds the power to restore peace to a war-torn world.

“Last Airbender” also represents a big gamble for Paramount Pictures. The Viacom Inc.-owned studio and sister company of Nickelodeon fully financed the movie, increasing the risk should it perform below expectations.

With a production cost of $150 million and a blockbuster-size $130 million marketing budget, “Last Airbender” is more than twice as expensive as any of Shyamalan’s previous eight films.

Given Shyamalan’s recent misses, some have questioned Paramount’s wisdom in handing him such a large-scale project, especially one designed to carry the studio at the height of the popcorn movie season. But Paramount Chief Executive Brad Grey said he’s not worried.

“Like every filmmaker, Night has had his hits and misses, but I believed in his vision and that he could execute it,” Grey said. “It’s a bold step, because he had to create a potential new family franchise.”

After several years of toying with the idea of making a larger-scale movie, Shyamalan said he finally settled on “Last Airbender” after watching the Nickelodeon series on DVD with his then-7-year-old daughter, who was taken with the “empowered” female character, Katara.

He called Grey to pitch him the idea of adapting the show into a movie.

“That began a long odyssey and dance to get the movie of this scale approved,” Shyamalan said. “It’s humbling to think of the amount of trust they had in what I was saying. This isn’t a small movie.”

There were other departures for the director from his past practice.

“Last Airbender” is the first film Shyamalan has made that wasn’t based on his own idea.

The movie’s extensive visual effects and 3-D shots made it the most technically complicated production he has overseen. And the shooting location in inhospitable Greenland was only the second time Shyamalan had shot a movie outside his longtime home near Philadelphia.PREVIEW

“THE LAST AIRBENDER,” starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Rated PG.

Running time: 1:43

Opening today at: Cinemagic Grand (South Portland) 11:45 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:30, 10 p.m.; Cinemagic Westbrook 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7:20, 9:50 p.m.; Cinemagic Saco 11:45 a.m., 2, 4:15,

7:15, 9:40 p.m.

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