Avatar: Aang animator lashes out at "incredibly disrespectful" fans choosing to pirate the leaked movie

An animator on Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender has spoken out about those protesting the leaked movie.

Julia Schoel, who worked on the Avatar feature-length sequel, wrote on Twitter, "We worked on the Aang movie for years with the expectation that’d we’d get to celebrate all of our hard work in theaters.. just to see people unceremoniously leak the film and pass our shots around on Twitter like candy."

Schoel also addressed those leaking and pirating the movie in protest of Paramount shifting The Last Airbender from a theatrical window to a streaming release on Paramount Plus.

They added, "I don’t like seeing people use Paramount's awful decision to remove the movie from theaters to justify leaking it. I totally understand folks not wanting to pay for/support Paramount Plus, but pirating the movie after its release would have at least been better than this. This is incredibly disrespectful to all of the hard work the artists put in."

Fellow animator on the project Tom Barkel also chimed in, stating, "This jeopardizes future work for artists in an increasingly hostile industry. Don't oversimplify please. That being said, the movie itself is a beautiful feat of art. So proud to be involved. If you engage with it and enjoy it then support it so there can be more art!"

Rumors of an Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender leak first did the rounds over the weekend, with one Twitter user declaring they had been "accidentally" sent the entire movie.

The source of the breach/leak hasn't been confirmed, but the full movie quickly ended up online – despite the best efforts of DMCA strikes to take the footage down.

As of writing, Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender – set after the events of the original series – is still set to release on Paramount Plus on October 9.

For more, check out the new anime in the works, plus a look at the best anime movies to watch right now.