the marketing budget was 130 million just by itself. That brings the total cost to Paramount up to 280 million US. If you Google 'Box Office Spy Blog' and then search for 'The Last Airbender', you'll come across an article that guesstimates that for The Last Airbender to make a profit, it has to clear 580 million dollars. Granted that would include international and domestic box office returns and monies from home recordings (DVD & Blu-Ray discs) and probably merchandise (toys, books, other things).

But 580 mil? I'm typing this out on my phone, so I don't have access to imdb to look up an all-time box-office return list. But, 580 million would put it with Iron Man, ET, the OG Star Wars (pre-post-George Lucas-restorationCOUGHf#ck!ngUpCOUGH), Jurassic Park, for that matter The Sixth Sense.

Those are all runaway box-office blockbusters. As commercially successful as M. Knight has been, requiring that kind of ROI is a steep task for any filmmaker.