Release Date: July 2, 2010 (Friday)

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies will release M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action big-screen adaptation of the popular animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender on July 2, 2010, Variety reported.

The studio has dropped Avatar from the title of the action-adventure movie so as to avoid confusion with James Cameron’s 3-D epic Avatar, which 20th Century Fox opens Dec. 18, 2009.

Airbender is the first movie to claim that date.

The creators of the Nick TV series were heavily influenced by Japanese anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The storyline revolves around a young hero who has the ability to manipulate the elements and stop a ruthless nation from destroying three other nations.

Shyamalan, who will direct from a script he penned, said Miyazaki is one of the greatest storytellers in the world.