MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures, in partnership with Nickelodeon Movies, will be releasing M. Night Shyamalan's film The Last Airbender in 2010.

Paramount Film Group president John Lesher said, "We're delighted to be partnering with Nickelodeon to bring M. Night Shyamalan's vision of The Last Airbender to the big screen and to audiences of all ages."

Based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series, the film is set in a world where human civilisation is divided into four nations: water, earth, air and fire.

Shyamalan said, "I was drawn to the series because of its influences-one being Hayao Miyazaki. I've always been a huge fan of Miyazaki's work. In The Last Airbender I see an opportunity to make a live-action version of a Miyazaki film."

Apart from directing, he will also produce the epic action-adventure based on the script that has been penned by him.

Paramount Pictures vice chairman Rob Moore stated, "Shyamalan's exciting vision for a film with the potential of The Last Airbender is another perfect fit for the fourth of July holiday weekend that we have used to launch such blockbusters as War of the Worlds and Transformers."

Shyamalan's new film The Happening will be released later this year.