‘Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender’ moves up release date, gets official trailer
Jessica Matten voices Katara, Román Zaragoza voices Sokka, Eric Nam voices Aang, Dee Bradley Baker voices Momo and Steven Yeun voices Sokka in ‘Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.’ (Paramount+)
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender has moved up its release date.
The animated movie is now set to premiere in July rather than in October. It will debut to Paramount+ on July 25. Paramount+ also released the official trailer for the film, which continues the story of the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Previously, the movie was supposed to debut in theaters on Oct. 9. Paramount changed the rollout to a direct-to-streaming release rather than a theatrical debut back in December 2025. Additionally, the entire film leaked online in April. This is thought to have added to the decision to move up its official release date.
The film follows Aang, the world’s last Airbender, as he learns “of an ancient power that could save his culture from extinction. With the help of his friends, he embarks on a global quest to find it before it falls into the wrong hands and threatens to upend the peace they sacrificed everything to achieve,” according to the film’s official description.
Its voice cast includes Eric Nam as Aang, Dave Bautista as Tagah, Jessica Matten as Katara, Román Zaragoza as Sokka, Steven Yeun as Zuko and Dionne Quan as Toph. Freida Pinto, Ke Huy Quan, Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ronny Chieng and Ken Jeong also provide their voices, while Dee Bradley Baker reprises his roles as pets Appa and Momo.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is based on the animated series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. It was directed by Lauren Montgomery, and co-directed by Steve Ahn and William Mata. DiMartino and Konietzko produced the film, and also created its story alongside Tim Hedrick and Kenneth Lin. The screenplay was written by Hedrick and Christopher Yost.
Dolly Parton performs at Bournemouth International Centre, Sept. 6, 2011, in Bournemouth, England. (Harry Herd/WireImage via Getty Images)
Country music legend Dolly Parton will be remembered at two Dollyfest concerts in 2027, her estate announced Monday.
The concerts, billed as the “party of a lifetime,” will be held across two consecutive weekends in 2027 in Nashville and London, according to her estate.
The celebration was originally scheduled to take place in Nashville in January this year, according to the estate, and was intended to be a “multi-artist event” featuring Parton, who died on Aug. 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
“Many people behind the scenes know that DOLLYFEST is a dream of Dolly’s that was intended to take place on her 80th birthday in Nashville,” Danny Nozell, Parton’s longtime manager, said in a statement Monday. “We had the venue booked and we had the announcement ready to go. And then, in August 2025, Dolly had to take a step back after her initial health challenges. A lot of people always say, WWDD (What Would Dolly Do?), and, well, at this moment, DOLLYFEST is WDWD (What Dolly Would Do!).”
“What Dolly started, we will ensure is brought to life,” Nozell added.
Exact dates for the two 2027 Dollyfest celebrations are forthcoming, Parton’s estate said, along with more information on who will be performing.
The upcoming celebrations were announced three days after Parton was laid to rest in a private memorial service in Nashville on Aug. 28, her niece Lainey Mae Parton shared in a social media post over the weekend.
Parton, who was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, requested a private funeral, her nephew Bryan Seaver said in a video message announcing her death.
Parton was born one of 12 children in a small town in Tennessee and propelled herself to become one of the world’s most successful entertainers, releasing 50 albums and winning 11 Grammy Awards.
She took a step back from public appearances over the past year as she dealt with health issues, details of which she did not share publicly.
Just days before her death, Parton shared a statement with People saying she was taking time to address health issues she “didn’t pay attention to” prior to Dean’s death last year.
Parton’s last major in-person public appearance was in June, when she made a surprise appearance at the grand opening of a gas station and restaurant called Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop.
Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 4, 2026, in New York. Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Award, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
A New York federal judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, must pay his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively’s attorneys’ fees, after the parties reached a settlement last month in Lively’s lawsuit against the actor and production studio.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s claim for punitive damages but wrote that the actress was entitled to attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Section 47.1 states in part that a “prevailing defendant” in a defamation case is “entitled to their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for successfully defending themselves in the litigation,” as well as any additional damages permitted by a judge.
In a statement to ABC News following the ruling, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said the judge’s decision “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1.”
“Ms. Lively is gratified that her lawsuit shows how Section 47.1 and laws like it create a path for survivors to hold accountable those who weaponize online attacks and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
Friday’s decision comes after the parties reached a settlement in early May in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, ending their nearly year-and-a-half legal dispute.
According to settlement documents filed May 7 in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni, via his Wayfarer production company, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute on terms that Lively could still seek to recover attorney’s fees and additional damages.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle kicked off in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film — which Baldoni also directed — sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Lively subsequently formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York, also on Dec. 31.
Baldoni responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and others for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one lawsuit in January 2025.
In June last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against the Times, was dismissed by Liman.
A federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni in April of this year, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined in a ruling at the time that Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation.
In May, after reaching a settlement in their protracted legal dispute, the two actors issued a joint statement via their respective legal teams, saying, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
Nara Smith attends the ‘A Night of Extra’ Beauty Evening at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, March 20, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
Influencer and cookbook author Nara Smith is opening up about her family’s private health journey, revealing that her 2-year-old daughter, Whimsy Lou, was diagnosed with cancer late last year.
Smith, 24, shared the news in an Instagram video on Wednesday, saying she and her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, 28, first sought medical attention after noticing “something suspicious” on their daughter.
“When we saw something suspicious on her, we took her to the ER, and they didn’t quite know what to make of it,” Smith said. “So when we took her into our pediatrician, I just remember him going really quiet and calm … My heart dropped in that moment. I don’t know whether it was my gut telling me something or just a mom’s intuition, but the first thing that I felt was, ‘She has cancer.'”
Smith said Whimsy later underwent X-rays, ultrasounds and a biopsy before doctors confirmed her cancer diagnosis.
“After a lot of X-rays, ultrasounds, and finally a biopsy, they immediately called us and said that she had cancer,” she said. “[They] told us it had spread, and that she need[ed] to come and start chemo treatments immediately.”
Smith did not disclose what type of cancer her daughter has or provide an update on Whimsy’s current condition.
The social media creator said connecting with other parents and families facing similar experiences has helped ease the feeling of isolation she experienced following her daughter’s diagnosis.
Smith also shared that balancing her daughter’s treatment while caring for her children, recovering postpartum — her youngest child was born in September last year — and keeping up with work has been challenging.
In the video’s caption, Smith expressed gratitude for the doctors and nurses who cared for her daughter, writing that she is “thankful for each and every nurse and doctor along our journey who helped us get through and out the other end.”
Smith, who has more than 12.4 million followers on TikTok and 4.7 million on Instagram, is known for sharing cooking videos and family-focused lifestyle content.
Her debut cookbook, Homemade, is scheduled to be released in October.
ABC News has reached out to Smith’s representative for comment.
