The new live-action adaptation of an animated series achieves solid numbers on Netflix, despite the fact that critics were divided.
Last Thursday, Netflix premiered a new live-action, Avatar: The Last Airbender, an adaptation of the classic animated series from the 2000s and one of the first major releases on the platform for 2024.
The comparisons have not been long in coming, and it is inevitable to look back a few months, when Netflix achieved significant success with another adaptation: One Piece. The series brings the original manganime of Eiichirō Order (Oda Eiichirō) and, despite fans' fears, he did so successfully.
One Piece had a pretty solid premiere on Netflix, despite arriving in August, with the entire northern hemisphere in the middle of summer and many people on vacation. The series debuted on Thursday, August 31, 2023 and obtained 18.5 million views in its first four days.
Without being the best premiere of a Netflix series, the good results and word of mouth of One Piece earned it a renewal for a second season.
Avatar: The Last Airbender surpasses One Piece in its premiere
But let's return to the present: the premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender was also on Thursday, February 22, so there is no trap or card that favors either series in time in this comparison.
The new adaptation original of Netflix ends its first four days on the platform with 21.2 million views2.7 million more than those obtained by One Piece in its premiere and, in fact, more than those obtained in its best week (19.3 million).
This result is promising for Avatar: The Last Airbender, along with the fact that, although critics have been quite divided on the series, the audience seems to be enjoying it.
Both Avatar: The Last Airbender and One Piece are available on Netflix, which seems to have found the formula for success with live-action adaptations, after years full of disasters.