document_title: American football rules

question_text: how many timeouts do you get in the nfl

question_tokens: how many timeouts do you get in the nfl

text: American football rules

text: Objective of the game[edit]

text: The objective of this game is to score more points than the other team during the allotted time.[1] The team with the ball (the offense) has 4 plays (downs) to advance at least 10 yards, and can score points once they reach the opposite end of the field, which is home to a scoring zone called the end zone, as well as the goal posts. If the offense succeeds in advancing at least 10 yards, they earn a "first down" and the number of tries allotted is reset and they are again given 4 tries to advance an additional 10 yards, starting from the spot to which they last advanced. If the offense does not advance at least 10 yards during their 4 downs, the team without the ball (the defense) regains control of the ball (called turnover on downs).

text: On offense, points are scored by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone for a touchdown (worth six points), or by kicking the ball from the playing field through the raised vertical posts (the goal posts) which are most commonly situated on the end line of the end zone for a field goal (worth three points). After scoring a touchdown, the offense is given an additional opportunity from the 2-yard line (3-yard line in amateur football) to attempt to score (in the NFL, 15-yard line on 1-point conversions). Conversion attempts are used to score 1 or 2 points as follows:

text:
The offense may attempt a field goal kick which is worth 1 point.
The offense may attempt to re-advance the ball into the opponent's end zone for a two-point conversion worth 2 points.

text: While the opposing team has possession, the defense attempts to prevent the offense from advancing the ball and scoring. If an offensive player loses the ball during play (a fumble) or the ball is caught by a defensive player while still in the air (an interception), the defense may attempt to run into the offense's end zone for a touchdown. The defense may also score points by tackling the ball carrier in the offense's own end zone, called a safety (which is worth two points).

text: Time of play[edit]

text: Collegiate and professional football games are 60 minutes long, divided into four quarters of 15 minutes each. In high school football, 12 minute quarters are usually played. The clock is stopped frequently, however, so that a typical college or professional game can exceed three hours in duration. The referee controls the game clock and stops the clock after any incomplete pass or any play that ends out of bounds. In addition, each team is allowed 3 timeouts in each half that they may use at their own discretion.

text: The clock may also be stopped for an officials' time-out, after which, if the clock was running, it is restarted. For example: if there is a question whether or not a team has moved the ball far enough for a first down, the officials may use a measuring device (the chains) to determine the distance. While this measurement is taking place, the officials will signal for a stoppage of the clock. Once the measurement is finished and the ball is placed at the proper location (spotted), the referee will then signal for the clock to restart. Additional situations where officials may take a time-out are to administer a penalty or for an injured player to be removed from the field.

text: In addition to the game clock, a separate play clock is also used. This counts down the time the offense has to start the next play before it is assessed a penalty for delay of game (see below). This clock is typically 25 seconds from when the referee marks the ball ready for play. The NFL and NCAA use a 40-second play clock that starts immediately after the previous play ends, though for certain delays, such as penalty enforcement, the offense has 25 seconds from when the ball is marked ready. The purpose of the play clock is to ensure that the game progresses at a consistent pace, preventing unnecessary delays.

text: Officials also call for media time-outs, which allow time for television and radio advertising. They also stop the clock after a change of possession of the ball from one team to the other. Successful PATs (Point(s) After Touchdown), a field goal try, or a kickoff may also warrant stopping the clock. If an instant replay challenge is called during the game, the referees signal for a media time out. The referee signals these media time-outs by first using the time out signal, then extending both arms in a horizontal position.

text: Separating the first and second halves is halftime. Teams change ends of the field at the end of the first quarter and the end of the third quarter. In the NFL, an automatic timeout is called by the officials when there are two minutes left in both the second and the fourth quarters, and overtime; this is most commonly referred to as the two-minute warning. No such warning is normally given in amateur football, though if there is no visible stadium clock, the referee will give a two-minute warning (four minutes in high school).

text: Overtime[edit]

text: NFL[edit]

text: If a game is tied at the end of four quarters, overtime is played. In overtime, the coin is tossed to determine which team will possess the ball first. The winner of the coin toss can choose to give the ball or receive the ball. If the first possession results in a field goal, the other team is given possession to match or better the field goal; therefore continuing the game. If the first possession results in a touchdown, the scoring team wins. During the regular season in the NFL, one overtime period is played (with each team receiving two time outs). If both teams are tied after the 10-minute overtime, the game officially ends in a tie. In the playoffs, 15-minute overtime periods continue until a winner is determined. Overtime follows after a three-minute intermission following the end of the regulation game. Prior to start of overtime, a coin flip is performed where the captain of the visiting team calls the toss. The team that wins the coin flip has the option to either receive the kickoff or choose the side of the field they wish to defend. Ties are rare in the NFL;[2] a game between the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals in London on October 30, 2016, ended in a 27–27 tie. There had been a tie in a game the previous week; prior to that, the last tie was on October 12, 2014.

text: Super Bowl LI was the first Super Bowl to go into overtime with a 28-28 tie between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots, which the Patriots eventually won by scoring a touchdown on their first drive.[3]

text: Prior to the 2010 playoffs, the overtime winner was simply the first team to score any points;[4] however, they were changed to reduce the apparent advantage gained by the team that won the overtime coin toss. Under the prior rules, the team that won the coin toss would usually elect to receive the ball, then gain just enough yardage to win the game by kicking a field goal without the other team ever touching the ball. The coin toss winner won approximately 60% of overtime games under that rule.[5] The first overtime game played under the new overtime rules trial occurred in the 2011-2012 NFL AFC Wildcard Playoff game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado. Denver won the game on the first play in overtime, an 80-yard touchdown pass from Tim Tebow to Demaryius Thomas. The rule was expanded into the regular season for the 2012 season,[6] and the first game in which both teams scored in overtime was a 43-37 victory by the Houston Texans over the Jacksonville Jaguars on November 18, 2012.[7]

text: The rules for overtime changed for the 2016-2017 season and tweaked again for the 2017-2018 season.[8]

text: NFL Europa[edit]

text: NFL Europa, a defunct league run by the NFL, used a 10-minute overtime period, with the constraint that each team must have the opportunity of possession; once both teams have had such an opportunity, the overtime proceeds in a manner similar to the NFL's. Thus, if Team A has the first possession of overtime and scores a touchdown and converts their kick (thus being 7 points ahead of Team B), Team A would then kick off to Team B (In the NFL, the game would have ended with the touchdown, without a conversion being attempted). Team B would have to match or exceed the 7 point difference within this ensuing possession; exceeding it would end the game immediately, while matching the difference would result in a kickoff to Team A. From this point, the overtime is sudden death. The defunct United Football League had also used this rule.

text: World Football League[edit]

text: The defunct World Football League, in its first season of 1974, used an overtime system more analogous to the system long used in international soccer. The overtime consisted of one 15-minute period, which was played in its entirety and divided into two halves of 7½ minutes each, with each half starting with a kickoff by one of the teams. The league changed to the NFL's sudden-death format for its final season in 1975.[9]

text: College and high school[edit]

text: In college and high school football, an overtime procedure (the Kansas plan) ensures that each team has equal opportunity to score. In college, both teams are granted possession of the ball at their opponents' 25 yard-line in succession. A coin flip takes place, with the winning team having the option either 1) to declare that they will take the ball first or second, or 2) to decide on which end of the field the series will occur (both teams' series occur on the same end of the field). The losing team will have the first option in any subsequent even-numbered overtime. In the first overtime, the team with first series attempts to score either a touchdown or a field goal; their possession ends when either a touchdown or a field goal have been scored, they turn the ball over via a fumble or an interception, or they fail to gain a first down. After a touchdown, a team may attempt either an extra-point or a two-point conversion. However, if the team on defense during the first series recovers a fumble and returns it for a touchdown, or returns an interception for a touchdown, the defensive team wins the game. (This is the only way for a college overtime game to end without both teams having possession.) Otherwise, regardless of the outcome of the first team's series (be it touchdown, field goal, or turnover), the other team begins their series. If the score remains tied after both teams have completed a series, a second overtime begins. If the score remains tied after two overtimes, teams scoring touchdowns are required to attempt a two-point conversion from the third overtime on. Just as in regulation, if a defensive team recovers a fumble/returns an interception to the end zone during a two-point conversion attempt, they will receive two points.

text: In high school football, individual state associations can choose any overtime format they want, or even elect to not play overtime at all (ties stand in this case). However, most states use the Kansas Plan. In a majority of states, each team is granted possession of the ball at the 10-yard line, meaning that a team cannot make a first down without scoring except via a defensive penalty that carries an automatic first down (such as defensive pass interference or roughing the passer). As is the case with the college overtime rule, the team that wins the coin toss will have the choice as to whether to take the ball first or second, or decide at which end of the field the overtime will be played. The other major difference between overtime in college football and high school football is that in high school football, if the defense forces a turnover, the ball is dead immediately, thus eliminating the possibility of scoring. However, in Texas, the college overtime rule is used, as both the University Interscholastic League, which governs interscholastic activities for Texas public high schools, and the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the largest analogous body for Texas private high schools, play by NCAA football rules with a few modifications for the high school level. Massachusetts also is another state that uses NCAA-style overtime rules.

text: XFL[edit]

text: The defunct XFL used a modified Kansas Plan which, upon the first team scoring, required the opponent to score the same or greater number of points in the same or fewer downs (i.e., if the first team scored a touchdown, and converted the one-point conversion in three downs, the opponent would have to match that touchdown and conversion in three downs as well). Each team started at the 20-yard line, but like high school, there were no opportunities for first downs. The league also banned field goals except on a fourth down.

text: Playing the game[edit]

text: Coin toss[edit]

text: Three minutes before the start of the game, the referee meets with captains from both teams for a coin toss. The visiting team calls the toss. The winner of the toss may defer their choice to the start of the second half, or they may take first choice of:

text:
Receiving the kickoff to start the game, or kicking off to start the game
Choosing an end of the field to defend in the first quarter (with the teams switching directions at the end of the first quarter and at the end of the third quarter)

tag: ol

text: The loser of the toss gets the remaining option.

text: At the start of the second half, the team that did not choose first (either because they deferred their choice or because they lost the toss) gets the first choice of options.

text: According to USA Today, in college games, the team that wins the toss defers their choice to the start of the second half over 90% of the time.[10]

text: If a game goes to overtime, a coin toss is held before the start of overtime, but tosses are not held before the start of subsequent overtime periods. In college, for example, the loser of the toss to start overtime has first choice in the second overtime period. The choices available to the captains in overtime vary among the NFL, college, and various states' high school rules.

text: In high school, the coin toss may be held between the captains or coaches earlier before the start of the game. At three minutes before kickoff, the captains meet for a simulated coin toss, where the referee announces the results of the earlier toss.

text: XFL[edit]

text: The XFL did not implement a coin toss; instead an event took place called the "opening scramble", in which one player from each team fought to recover a football 20 yards away in order to determine possession. Both players lined up side-by-side on one of the 30-yard lines, with the ball being placed at the 50-yard line. At the whistle, the two players would run toward the ball and attempt to gain possession; whichever player gained possession first was allowed to choose possession (as if he had won a coin toss in other leagues).

text: Downed player[edit]

text: The rules vary from the college level to the professional level. In the NFL, unless you are tagged by an opposing player or give yourself up, you are not down. A player carrying the ball (the runner) is downed when any of the following occurs:

text:
Any part of the runner other than his hands or feet touches the ground. Ankles and wrists count as downed. This may be as a result of:

Contact by an opponent (called down by contact) where the opponent tackles the runner by pushing him, grasping him and pulling him to the ground, sliding into his legs, or touching him in any manner prior to any part of the runner other than his hands or feet touching the ground. Unlike the use of the word tackle in other sports, if the opposing player fails to down the ball carrier, it is merely an attempted tackle. If the ball carrier falls onto another player but he doesn't make contact with the ground, he can still get up and keep playing. A player on the ground is not considered part of the ground.
Intentionally downing the ball: intentionally kneeling, verbally declaring "I'm down" (except in college), or similar actions. For example, to protect himself from violent hits by opponents attempting to tackle him, the quarterback may choose to slide to the ground feet-first. This slide is interpreted as intentionally downing the ball, and opponents may then be penalized for hitting him.
In amateur football, a runner is downed when any part of his body other than his hands or feet touches the ground at any time (unless he is the holder for a place kick). In professional football, the runner is not down for such accidental contact; he must be down by contact with an opponent as described above.

The runner goes out of bounds: that is, any part of his body (including his hands or feet) touches the ground, or anything other than another player or an official, on or past a sideline or an endline. Note that the sideline itself is out of bounds, so that the runner is deemed out of bounds if he steps on or touches any part of it. Note also that a runner may carry the ball in such a manner that it is over the sideline, so long as the ball or runner does not touch anything out of bounds.
The runner's forward progress toward the opponents' goal line is stopped by contact with an opponent, with little chance to be resumed. The exact moment at which the player's forward progress stops is subject to the judgment of the officials. In particular, for the protection of the quarterback, he is considered down as soon as an official judges that he is in the grasp of an opponent behind the line of scrimmage, and the tackling defensive player(s) will be awarded with a sack. If he is driven backward by the opponent, the ball will be spotted where his forward progress was stopped.

text: Scrimmage downs[edit]

text: The majority of a football game takes place on plays, or downs, that begin at the line of scrimmage. The officials spot the ball (place it in a designated spot on the field) on the line of scrimmage and declare it ready for play.

text: Positions[edit]

text: The width of the spotted football defines the width of the neutral zone, an area of the field no player other than the snapper may position himself in or above before the snap. Each team has its own line of scrimmage, thought of as a vertical plane from sideline to sideline that passes through the point of the ball nearest its own goal line.

text: A typical offense is made up of a quarterback, five offensive linemen, two wide receivers, a running back, a fullback, and a tight end, however teams will vary their personnel on the field to fit any given play. A quarterback is essentially the leader of the offense. It is most often their responsibility to pass along the play called to the rest of the players in the huddle before any given play. A quarterback is the primary ball handler on offense. It is their responsibility to call the snap count for the ball to enter play. Once the ball is hiked into play, it is their job to either hand the ball off to one of their running backs, or scout the field for an open receiver to throw the ball to. In some instances, the quarterback will run the ball themselves. A quarterback is guarded by their offensive linemen. The offensive line is made up of a left and right tackle, a left and right guard, and a center. It is the center's responsibility to hike the ball to the quarterback. An offensive line has two different jobs. When the offense runs a pass play, it is their job to guard the quarterback from the defense that are rushing. When the offense runs a run play, it is their job to clear a path for the running back to run through. The running back also has multiple roles. They will either take the ball from the quarterback and run, move up and help the offensive line block, or go out and catch a pass. While the role of the fullback is deteriorating currently among professional leagues, it is their primary responsibility to lead the running back. Running backs and fullbacks are sometimes also called a halfback, a wingback, or a slotback. Like the running back, the tight end also has multiple roles. They will either help the offensive line protect the quarterback, block on run plays, or run or catch the ball themselves. The wide receivers primary role is to run out into the field of play and catch the ball, although they will also block in some instances.

text: The players on offense must arrange themselves in a formation, all behind their line of scrimmage (that is, on their side of the ball). For reasons of safety and competitive balance, there are strict rules which define the way in which the offensive players may line up. Seven players must line up directly on the line of scrimmage while four players line up behind the line of scrimmage. Within this formation, there are six eligible receivers who may receive a forward pass during play. These eligible receivers are either the running back, fullback, tight end, or wide receivers. The remaining five linemen, often called interior linemen do not normally handle the ball during a play. Because of these rules, various leagues of American football have enacted strict rules of uniform numbering so officials may more easily judge which players were eligible and which were not at the start of a play. For example, in college football, ineligible players wear numbers 50–79, while eligible receivers wear 1–49 or 80–99. Even within this structure, offenses can still present a wide number of formations, so long as they maintain the "seven and four" arrangement. Receivers, for example, may play close to the other linemen or they may play some distance down the line of scrimmage, where they would sometimes be called split ends. Of the four backs, they may play behind the linemen, or may play "split out" to provide additional wide receivers. These additional receivers can be flankers (if they play split far wide, but still in the backfield) or slot receivers if they play in the "slot" between the split end and the rest of the offensive line.

text: The players on defense may arrange themselves in any manner, as long as all players are "behind the line" (that is, on the side of the line nearest their own end zone). Players who line up opposite the offensive line are called defensive linemen, usually with one or two defensive tackles in the middle (a single defensive tackle is often called the nose guard or nose tackle) and with one defensive end on each side. A defensive lineman's job is typically to put pressure on the opposing teams quarterback by rushing the offensive line. The defensive line is also most often the first set of players the opponent must get through should they choose to run the ball. Behind the linemen are the linebackers. A linebackers job can be any number of things, including trying to rush the opposing teams quarterback, stopping the opponents running back on run plays, or covering the opponents tight end or wide receivers. Positioned opposite the wide receivers are the cornerbacks. Their primary responsibility is to cover the wide receivers. Farthest back from the line are the safeties, usually in the middle of the field behind the linebackers. The safeties are the last line of defense against the opponent. Like a linebacker, a safety's role can vary, however their most common role is to help the cornerbacks cover the opponent's wide receivers, which is called "double coverage". The linemen and linebackers close to the line of scrimmage, are often referred to as playing "in the box". Players outside "the box" (usually cornerbacks and safeties) are collectively referred to as the "secondary".

text: Starting the down[edit]

text: A scrimmage down begins with a snap, where the center throws or hands the ball backward to one of the backs, usually the quarterback. The quarterback then either hands the ball off to a back, throws the ball, or runs with it himself. The down ends when the ball becomes dead (see below). The ball is typically next spotted where the ball became dead; however, if it became dead outside the hash marks, it is brought in on the same yard line to the nearest hash mark. This spot becomes the line of scrimmage for the next play. In the case of an incomplete forward pass, the ball is returned to the spot where it was last snapped to begin the next play. A fumbled ball that goes out of bounds is declared dead and possession remains with the team that most recently had control of the ball.

text: Dead ball[edit]

text: The ball becomes dead, and the down ends, when:

text:
the ball carrier is downed, as described above;
a forward pass falls incomplete (it touches the ground before possession is secured by a player);
the ball carrier or ball touches the sideline or end line or otherwise goes outside the field of play ("out of bounds");
the ball carrier or the ball, except on a scoring field goal attempt, hits any part of the goalpost (even if it bounces back onto the field);
a team scores;
a kick receiver makes a fair catch (waving his arm above his head to signal a fair catch, where the kicking team is not allowed to interfere with him or hit him after the catch, but in return he is not allowed to run), or a member of the receiving team gains possession after a fair catch signal was given;
a member of the kicking team possesses a kicked ball beyond the line of scrimmage (e.g. "downing" a punt allowed to roll by the receiving team by holding it to stop its roll);
a kicked ball comes to rest;
a touchback occurs; or
under NFL or college rules, on fourth down (or, in the NFL, on any down after the two-minute warning in either half/overtime), a ball fumbled forward by the offensive team is recovered by an offensive team player other than the fumbler.

text: The nearest official typically blows his whistle after the ball becomes dead to alert the players that the down has already ended. If the ball is alive and the official sounds an inadvertent whistle, then the ball still becomes dead, but the team in possession of the ball may elect to have the down replayed or take the spot where the ball was declared dead. If the ball was loose from a fumble, then the ball can be put into play at the spot of the fumble. If the ball was in flight from a kick or a pass, then the down is always replayed.

text: Free kick downs[edit]

text: A free kick is a down which does not occur from scrimmage. The kicking team begins behind the ball, while the receiving team must remain at least 10 yards downfield before the ball is kicked.

text: Kickoffs[edit]

text: A kickoff is a type of free kick where the ball is placed on a tee (or held) at the kicking team's 35-yard line (40 for high school). In the 2011 NFL Season, changes were made regarding kickoffs to limit injuries. Kickoffs were returned from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, repealing a 1994 rule change. In addition, players on the kickoff coverage team cannot line up more than 5 yards behind the kickoff line, minimizing running starts and thus reducing the speed of collisions.[11] The kicking team's players may not cross this line until the ball is kicked; members of the non-kicking (or "receiving") team are similarly restrained behind a line 10 yards further downfield (the 45-yard line, or 50 for high school). A valid kickoff must travel at least this 10-yard distance to the receiving team's restraining line, after which any player of either team may catch or pick up the ball and try to advance it (a member of the kicking team may only recover a kickoff and may not advance it) before being downed (see "Downed player," below). In most cases, the ball is kicked as far as possible (typically 40 to 70 yards), after which a player of the receiving team is usually able to secure possession (since the members of the kicking team cannot start downfield until after the ball is kicked). Occasionally, for tactical reasons, the kicking team may instead choose to attempt an onside kick, in which the kicker tries to kick the ball along the ground just over the required 10-yard distance in such a manner that one of his own teammates can recover the ball for the kicking side. If it is touched before ten yards, the ball is dead and a re-kick or spot of the ball will be rewarded to the receiving team.

text: Receiving a kickoff[edit]

text: A member of the receiving team gaining possession of the ball on a kickoff may attempt to advance it as far as he can toward the kicking team's goal line before being downed. Once the ball carrier is downed, the play is whistled dead and the ball is placed by the officials at the point where the play ended; this spot then becomes the line of scrimmage for the ensuing play. A kick that travels through or goes out of bounds within the end zone without being touched, or is caught by the receiving team in the end zone but not advanced out of it, results in a touchback; the ball is then placed at the receiving team's 25-yard line, which becomes the line of scrimmage.

text: A kickoff that goes out of bounds anywhere other than the end zone before being touched by the receiving team is an illegal kick: the receiving team has the option of having the ball re-kicked from five yards closer to the kicking team's goal line, or they may choose to take possession of the ball at the point where it went out of bounds or 30 yards from the point of the kick (25 yards in high school, and in college as of 2012[update]), whichever is more advantageous.

text: Other free kicks[edit]

text: A free kick is also used to restart the game following a safety. The team that was trapped in its own end zone, therefore conceding two points to the other team, kicks the ball from its own 20-yard line. This can be a place kick (in the NFL, a tee cannot be used), drop kick or punt.

text: In the NFL and high school, a free kick may be taken on the play immediately after a fair catch; see "fair catch kick" below.

text: Scoring[edit]

text: Field goal (3 points)[edit]

text: A field goal is scored when the ball is place kicked, drop kicked, or free kicked after a fair catch or awarded fair catch (High School or NFL only) between the goal posts behind the opponent's end zone. The most common type of kick used is the place kick. For a place kick, the ball must first be snapped to a placeholder, who holds the ball upright on the ground with his fingertip so that it may be kicked. Three points are scored if the ball crosses between the two upright posts and above the crossbar and remains over. If a field goal is missed, the ball is returned to the original line of scrimmage (in the NFL, to the spot of the kick; in high school, to the 20-yard line if the ball enters the end zone, or otherwise where the ball becomes dead after the kick) or to the 20-yard line if that is further from the goal line, and possession is given to the other team. If the ball does not go out of bounds, the other team may catch the kicked ball and attempt to advance it, but this is usually not advantageous. One official is positioned under each goalpost; if either one rules the field goal no good, then the field goal is unsuccessful. A successful field goal is signaled by an official extending both arms vertically above the head. A team that successfully kicks a field goal kicks off to the opposing team on the next play.

text: Touchdown (6 points)[edit]

text: A touchdown is earned when a player has legal possession of the ball and the ball touches or goes over the imaginary vertical plane above the opposing team's goal line. After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts a try for 1 or 2 points (see below). A successful touchdown is signaled by an official extending both arms vertically above the head. A touchdown is worth six points, except in the defunct WFL where it was worth seven points.

text: For statistical purposes, the player who advances the ball into or catches it in the end zone is credited with the touchdown. If a forward pass was thrown on the play, the throwing player is also credited with a passing touchdown.

text: Try for extra point (1 or 2 points)[edit]

text: A try is more frequently called an extra-point attempt or a PAT (abbreviation of "Point After Touchdown").[12] Either one or two additional points may be scored during the try. The ball is spotted at the 15-yard line (for 1-point conversions); 2-yard line (for 2-point conversions) for the NFL and on 3-yard line for college and high school, and the team is given one un-timed play to earn points.

text:
The offensive team may attempt to kick the ball through the goalposts, in the same manner that a field goal is kicked. If successful, the team is awarded one point, referred to as an extra point. This option is almost always chosen, because a two-point conversion attempt is much riskier. Since the extra point is almost always successful (especially in NFL play), sportscasters will often refer to a team up or trailing by seven (not six) points as being "up/trailing by a touchdown".
The offensive team may attempt to advance the ball via run or pass into the end zone, much like a touchdown on the extra-point attempt, except that it receives two points. This is called a two-point conversion. The success rate for two-point conversions is about 48 percent[13] in the NFL, making the two-point conversion attempt a risky tactic; thus it is usually attempted only when two points will help the team but one point will not.

For example, suppose that it is late in the game with a score of 21–10 and the losing team scores a touchdown, making the score 21–16. The scoring team will usually attempt the two-point conversion, because if successful, a three-point deficit later could be matched with one field goal; failure to convert would result in a five-point deficit that could be surmounted with another touchdown – a situation no worse than the four-point deficit achieved with a kicked extra point.
Another example would be if a team scores a late-game touchdown, and as a result is down by two points. A successful two-point conversion would tie the game, and likely force overtime. In very rare and risky instances, a trailing team who scored a touchdown, and as a result is down by 1 point, may attempt a two-point conversion to gamble on a win and avoid overtime (or, under NCAA or NFHS rules, a subsequent overtime period). Two famous examples of this gamble were by Nebraska in the last minute of the 1984 Orange Bowl (unsuccessful) and by Boise State in the first overtime of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl (successful). Note that under NCAA rules, teams are required to "go for two" starting with the third overtime procedure.

Under college and NFL rules, if the defensive team gains possession and advances the ball the length of the field into the opposite end zone on the try (for example by an interception or a fumble recovery, or by blocking a kick and legally recovering the ball), they score two points. This is officially recorded as a touchdown scored by the defense. The NCAA adopted this rule in 1988; the NFL added this in 2015.

This scenario cannot occur under high school football rules; the ball is ruled dead and the try is over immediately when the defense gains possession.

In the extremely rare event that the offensive team scores a safety on the try, it receives one point. In college football, this can occur when, for example, the defense gains control of the ball and attempts to advance it, then fumbles it out of bounds in its own end zone. Prior to 2015, only the offense could score a one-point safety in the NFL as the try ended once the defense gains possession.[14] As of 2015[update], either team may score a 1-point safety due to the rule changes permitting the defense to return a try after a turnover.[15]
The game clock is not advanced during a try, however, the play clock is enforced. A delay of game penalty, false start, or similar penalty, by the offense results in a 5-yard penalty assessed for the try. Typically, penalties charged against the defense give the offensive two options: half the distance to the goal for the try, or assessing the full penalty on the ensuing kickoff. Since the try is not timed by the game clock, if a touchdown is scored as regulation time expires (and game clock subsequently reads 0:00.0), the try is still allowed to be conducted. This instance is relatively common as teams score a game-tying (or game-winning) extra point after regulation has expired.

During sudden-death overtime, particularly in the NFL, if a team scores a touchdown in the overtime period, the game is immediately over, and the try is not attempted.
In NCAA overtime, if the second team to possess the ball in the overtime scores a touchdown which puts them ahead of the opponent in points the game ends immediately and no try is attempted.

The officials' signal for a successful try, whether an extra point or a two-point conversion, is the same as for a touchdown. After the try, the team that scored the touchdown kicks off to the opposing team.

text: Defunct leagues[edit]

text: In the WFL, PAT's were called "Action Points" and could only be scored via a run or pass play (as opposed to by kick as in the NFL), and were worth one point. The ball was placed on the two-and-a-half -yard line for an Action Point. This rule was a revival of a 1968 preseason experiment by the NFL and American Football League. The XFL employed a similar rule in which teams ran a single offensive down from the two-yard line (functionally identical to the NFL/NCAA/CFL two-point conversion), also for one point. By the playoffs, two-point and three-point conversions had been added to the rules. Teams could opt for the bonus points by playing the conversion farther back from the goal line.

text: Safety (2 points)[edit]

text: The uncommon safety is scored if a player causes the ball to become dead in his own end zone; two points are awarded to the opposing (usually defending) team. This can happen if a player is either downed or goes out of bounds in the end zone while carrying the ball, or if he fumbles the ball, and it goes out of bounds in the end zone. A safety is also awarded to the defensive team if the offensive team commits a foul which is enforced in its own end zone. A safety is not awarded if a player intercepts a pass or receives a kick in his own end zone and is downed there. This situation, in which the opponent caused the ball to enter the end zone, is called a touchback; no points are scored, and the team that gained possession of the ball is awarded possession at its own 20-yard line. If the interception or reception occurs outside the end zone, and the player is carried into the end zone by momentum, the ball is placed at the spot of the catch and no safety is awarded. A safety is signaled by a referee holding both palms together above the head, fingertips pointing upwards. After a safety, the team that conceded the safety kicks a free kick (which may be a punt, place kick, or drop kick) from its 20-yard line.

text: Fair catch kick[edit]

text: A free kick (see above) may be taken on the play immediately after any fair catch of a punt. In the NFL, if the receiving team elects to attempt this and time expired during the punt, the half/overtime is extended with an untimed down. The ball must be held on the ground by a member of the kicking team or may be drop kicked; a tee may not be used. (High school kickers may use a tee). This is both a field goal attempt and a free kick; if the ball is kicked between the goal posts, three points are scored for the kicking team. This is the only case where a free kick may score points. This method of scoring is extremely rare, last successfully completed in the NFL by Ray Wersching in 1976. It is only advantageous when a team catches a very short punt with very little time left. Note that a team is unlikely to be punting with only a few seconds left in a half or overtime, and it is rarer still for punts to be caught near field goal range. The officials' signal for a successful fair catch kick is the same as for a field goal.

text: Officiating[edit]

text: The game is officiated by a crew of three to seven officials. Every crew will consist of a referee, who is generally in charge of the game and watches action on the quarterback and in the offensive backfield; an umpire, who handles spotting the ball and watches action on the offensive line; and a head linesman, who supervises placement of the down box and line-to-gain chains. The crew may also consist of a line judge, back judge, field judge and side judge, in the order listed: i.e. a crew of five officials has a referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge and back judge.

text: Officials are selected by the teams in advance or appointed by the governing league. While the majority of officials at lower levels only officiate games on a part-time basis, the NFL is implementing a new system where seven officials will become full-time employees of the league, one for each official position (i.e. back judge, field judge, side judge, etc.).[16] In the other three major North American professional sports leagues – Major League Baseball, the NBA and NHL – officials are employed by their respective leagues. The sheer volume of games in the other three sports necessitates full-time officials; the NFL regular season is only 16 games long, compared to 162 games for MLB and 82 for the NBA and NHL.

text: During the game, the officials are assisted in the administration of the game by other persons, including: a clock operator to start and stop the game clock (and possibly also the play clock); a chain crew who hold the down indicator and the line-to-gain chains on the sideline; and ball boys, who provide footballs to officials between downs (e.g. a dry ball each down on a wet day). These individuals may be provided by the teams involved – it is common for a high school coach's son or daughter to act as ball boy for the team.

text: Fouls and their penalties[edit]

text: Because football is a high-contact sport requiring a balance between offense and defense, many rules exist that regulate equality, safety, contact, and actions of players on each team. It is very difficult to always avoid violating these rules without giving up too much of an advantage. Thus, an elaborate system of fouls and penalties has been developed to "let the punishment fit the crime" and maintain a balance between following the rules and keeping a good flow of the game. Players are constantly looking for ways to find an advantage that stretches the limitations imposed by the rules. Also, the frequency and severity of fouls can make a large difference in the outcome of a game, so coaches are constantly looking for ways to minimize the number and severity of infractions committed by their players.

text: It is a common misconception that the term "penalty" is used to refer both to an infraction and the penal consequence of that infraction. A foul is a rule infraction for which a penalty is prescribed.[17] Some of the more common fouls are listed below. In most cases when a foul occurs, the offending team will be assessed a penalty of 5, 10 or 15 yards, depending on the foul. Also, in most cases, if the foul is committed while the ball is in play, the down will be replayed from the new position (for example, if the offense commits a foul on a first-down play, the next play will still be first down, but the offense may have to go 15 yards, or farther, to achieve another first down.) But if a defensive foul results in the ball advancing beyond the offense's first-down objective, the next play will be the first down of a new series. Some penalties (typically for more serious fouls), however, require a loss of down for the offense; and some defensive fouls may result in an automatic first down regardless of the ball position.

text: In all cases (except for ejection of a player or, in rare cases, forfeiture of the game), the non-offending team is given the option of declining the penalty and letting the result of the play stand (although the Referee may exercise this option on their behalf when it is obvious), if they believe it to be more to their advantage. For some fouls by the defense, the penalty is applied in addition to the yardage gained on the play. Most personal fouls, which involve danger to another player, carry 15-yard penalties; in rare cases, they result in offending players being ejected from the game. In the NFL, if a defensive foul occurs after time has expired at the end of a half, the half will be continued for a single, untimed play from scrimmage. Under college rules, any accepted penalty when time has expired at the end of any quarter results in an extension for one untimed down.

text: In the NFL, with three exceptions, no penalty may move the ball more than half the distance toward the penalized team's goal line. These exceptions are defensive pass interference (see the discussion of that foul for more details), intentional grounding, and offensive holding – but in this last case the exception pertains only if the infraction occurs within the offensive team's own end zone, in which case an automatic safety is assessed (intentional grounding from the end zone also carries an automatic safety). Under college rules, the same half-the-distance principle applies, but any offensive fouls involving contact in their end zone (e.g. holding, illegal blocking or personal fouls) result in a safety.

text: Timeouts[edit]

text: Each team receives three timeouts per half (if the game goes to overtime, each team receives additional timeouts), making for a total of six timeouts per team in a regulation game. Unused timeouts may not carry over to the second half or overtime. In professional football, a team must have at least one remaining timeout to challenge an official's call.

text: Instant replay[edit]

text: In the NFL, a number of rulings can be reviewed by officials or challenged by coaches. If a coach wants to challenge a play, he must do so before the next play begins, and he does so by throwing a red flag similar to the officials' yellow flags. Coaches are allowed two challenges per game and are granted a third if their first two are successful. The team loses a timeout if they lose the challenge. Therefore, they cannot challenge if they do not have timeouts. Plays within the two-minute-warning and overtime cannot be challenged; any review must be initiated by a replay official off-field. The referee performs the actual review via a video screen on the sideline. The referee will announce the result of instant replay reviews over his wireless microphone.

text: Beginning in the 2011 NFL Season, an instant replay review by the booth official will now be automatic for every play ruled by the referees on the field to have scored points. This is seen as another step in the "modernization" of sports. Every scoring play will be reviewed now, which saves coaches from using up their challenges on close plays in the endzone.[18] And since the 2012 season, the booth official also reviews all turnovers during the game.

text: In college, coaches are allowed one challenge per game by first requesting a timeout. Otherwise, a replay official in the press box observes all plays. If he deems a ruling may be in error, he notifies the officials on the field to interrupt the game before the beginning of the next play. The replay official performs the review and relays the decision to the referee, who announces the result. Not every conference employs replay, which is optional.

text: High school rules do not provide for video review of any decisions by officials during the game. Further, the use of television or video tape for coaching purposes during the game is prohibited. If a coach feels a rule has been misinterpreted, he may call timeout and request a coach-referee conference to discuss the ruling with the referee, but no replay equipment will be consulted during the conference.

text: Major rule differences between NFL and college football[edit]

text: Some of the major rule differences between NFL and college football include:

text:
NFL
College football

Number of feet a receiver must have in bounds for a completed pass
Both
Only one

Down by contact rule
Yes, a player is active until he is tackled or forced down by a member of the opposing team
No, a player is automatically ruled down when any part of his body other than the feet or hands touches the ground

Penalty for defensive pass interference
Automatic first down at the spot of the foul
Automatic first down, with the lesser of 15 yards from the previous spot or the spot of the foul

Clock temporarily stops after the offense completes a first down so the chain crew can reset the chains
No, the clock runs even after a first down
Yes

Spot where an opposing team takes possession after a missed field goal
The greater of the spot of the kick or the opposing team's 20-yard line
The greater of the previous line of scrimmage or opposing team's 20-yard line

Two-minute warning (an automatic time out when two minutes remain in each half/overtime)
Yes
No, it is not used

Starting point of a one- or two-point conversion
2-yard line on 2-point conversions; 15-yard line on 1-point conversions
3-yard line

Overtime
Sudden death using basically the same rules as in regulation. Except if the team that receives the kickoff scores a field goal on its first possession, it then kicks off to the opposing team with an opportunity to score; if the score is tied again after that possession, true sudden death rules apply. During preseason and regular season games, only one overtime period is played and the game can simply end in a tie; during playoff games, multiple overtime periods may be held until one team scores.
Each team is given one possession from its opponent's twenty-five yard line with no game clock. The team leading after both possessions is declared the winner. If the teams remain tied, overtime periods continue; games cannot end in a tie. Starting with the third overtime, teams are only allowed to attempt two-point conversions after a touchdown.

Instant replay
Scoring plays, turnovers, and plays during the final two minutes of each half and all overtime periods are subject to booth review. Coaches are issued two challenges (with the option for a third if the first two are successful) to request a review for all other plays
All plays are subject to booth reviews. Each coach gets only one guaranteed challenge. If that challenge is successful, a second challenge is allowed.


document_title: The Last Airbender

question_text: who played katara in the last airbender movie

root

text: The Last Airbender

text: Plot[edit]

text: 15-year-old Sokka and his 14-year-old sister, Katara, are near a river at the Southern Water Tribe, a small village in the South Pole. While hunting, they discover an iceberg that when broken open shoots a beam of light into the sky. Inside of the iceberg is a 12-year-old boy named Aang and a giant flying bison named Appa. Unknown to them, Aang is the long-lost Avatar – the only person capable of "bending" all 4 elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire. A century has passed since the Fire Nation has declared war on the other 3 nations of Air, Water, and Earth in their attempt to conquer the world.

tag: p

text: Zuko is the scarred 16-year-old exiled prince of the Fire Nation on a quest to find the Avatar and bring him to his father, Fire Lord Ozai, so he can regain his honor. Seeing the light that appeared from Aang's release, Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers arrive at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar. Aang reveals himself and surrenders to Zuko on the condition that he agrees to leave the village alone. On the ship, Aang is tested by Zuko's paternal uncle Iroh to confirm he is the Avatar. After being informed that he is to be their prisoner for passing the test, Aang escapes using his glider and flies to his flying bison brought by Katara and Sokka. Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple where they meet a winged lemur, who Aang later names Momo. Aang also learns that he was in the ice for a whole century and that the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads, including his guardian, Monk Gyatso. In despair, he enters the Avatar State and finds himself in the Spirit World where he encounters a Dragon Spirit. Katara's pleas bring Aang back out of the Avatar State.

text: To seek shelter, Aang's group arrives at a little Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation, but they are arrested and taken to a prison for Earthbenders surrounded by earth [13] because Katara tries to help a young boy escape from Fire Nation soldiers. They incite a rebellion by reminding the disgruntled Earthbenders that Earth was given to them. Aang tells Katara and Sokka that he only knows airbending and he must master the other three elements. Katara is given a waterbending scroll that she uses to greatly strengthen and hone her waterbending abilities and to help Aang learn as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe (where Aang will be able to learn from waterbending masters) and liberate more Earth Kingdom villages in the process, weakening the Fire Nation's food and water supplies.

text: During a side track to the Northern Air Temple on his own, Aang is betrayed by a Southern Earth Kingdom peasant and captured by a group of Fire Nation archers, led by Commander Zhao, a Fire Nation Commander appointed by the Fire Lord. However, a masked marauder, the "Blue Spirit", helps Aang escape from his imprisonment, fighting off the Fire Nation soldiers under Zhao's command until the blue spirit realises they will be overwhelmed, at which point he takes Aang hostage to negotiate their way out. During the prison break, Zhao realizes that Zuko is the masked vigilante. He arranges to kill the prince, first by having a crossbowman fire a bolt over a huge distance that shatters the lower half of Zuko's mask and knocks him out, however Aang uses his skills to bend a cloud across the bridge connecting the prison to the other side of the valley, causing the Fire Nation soldiers in pursuit to stop in fear. With the cloud covering their escape, Aang escapes with an unconscious Zuko into a nearby forest and watches over Zuko until morning, when he leaves to reunite with Sokka and Katara. Zhao tries again to kill Zuko, this time by rupturing a gas pipe running through Zuko's quarters on Iroh's ship. Noticing the danger, Zuko manages to survive the attempt on his life with Iroh's help. He sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs for the Northern Water Tribe, which is a heavy fortress, to capture the Avatar. Upon arriving, Aang's group is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka quickly befriends the Northern Water Tribe princess, Yue. After a few agreements, a waterbending master, Pakku, teaches Aang waterbending. Katara also becomes a much stronger and more powerful waterbender due to her training with Master Pakku.

text: Soon, the Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko begins his search for the Avatar on his own. After defeating Katara in a battle, Zuko captures Aang as he enters the Spirit World to find the Dragon Spirit to give him the wisdom to defeat the Fire Nation who tells him to let his emotions "flow like water". Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko before Katara freezes him. Before leaving to join the battle, Aang lowers the ice so that Zuko can breathe. As the battle escalates, Iroh watches Zhao capture the Moon Spirit, with which its Ocean Spirit counterpart had assumed the form of a fish. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao kills the Moon Spirit to strip all of the waterbenders of their ability to waterbend. Iroh, enraged by Zhao's disrespect for sacredness and by his actions to unbalance the world, reveals the extent of his mastery of firebending by using his chi to create huge flame jets from his wrists, scaring Zhao and his entourage of Fire Nation Soldiers out of the sacred cave. Yue explains to everyone that the Moon Spirit gave her life and, with Iroh's help, realises she can give her life back to the Moon Spirit as she dies in the process. With the tables turned, Zhao finds out Zuko survived. They almost fight before Iroh appears and tells Zuko it's not worth it. Zhao attempts one more time to kill Zuko with a massive blast of fire, which Iroh manages to deflect. Zhao is drowned by waterbenders after Zuko and Iroh leave him to his fate. Aang remembers his life before being trapped in the ice, including when he left his home, seeing his master's face. With his waterbending powers and his emotions "flowing like water", Aang enters the Avatar State and raises the ocean into a gigantic wall to drive the armada back. Aang now fully embraces his destiny as the Avatar as he, Katara and Sokka prepare to continue their journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an earthbending teacher for Aang. The Fire Lord learns of the defeat; angry over the betrayal of his brother Iroh and the failure of his eldest son Zuko, he tasks his youngest daughter, Zuko's sister, Azula to stop the Avatar from mastering Earth and Fire before the arrival of Sozin's Comet.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Noah Ringer as Aang[14]

tag: ul

text: Dev Patel as Prince Zuko[15]

text: Nicola Peltz as Katara[14]

text: Jackson Rathbone as Sokka[14]

text: Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh[16]

text: Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao[16]

text: Seychelle Gabriel as Princess Yue

text: Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai

text: Summer Bishil as Princess Azula

text: Francis Guinan as Master Pakku

text: Randall Duk Kim as Old man in temple

text: Isaac Jin Solstein as Haru

text: Keong Sim as Tyro

text: John Noble as Dragon Spirit

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: According to an interview with the co-creators in SFX magazine, Shyamalan came across Avatar when his daughter wanted to be Katara for Halloween. Intrigued, Shyamalan researched and watched the series with his family. "Watching Avatar has become a family event in my house ... so we are looking forward to how the story develops in season three," said Shyamalan. "Once I saw the amazing world that Mike and Bryan created, I knew it would make a great feature film."[17] He added he was attracted to the spiritual and martial arts influences on the show.[18]

text: Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko voiced their opinion within an interview regarding Shyamalan writing, directing, and producing the film. The two displayed much enthusiasm over Shyamalan's decision for the adaptation, stating that they admire his work and, in turn, he respects their material.[19] Producer Frank Marshall explained that they have high hopes to stick to a PG rating. "I'm not even sure we want to get in the PG-13 realm. Furthermore, Shyamalan said, "A lot of the inspiration for the direction we took comes from a friend of mine. A Nathan Blackmer helped shape this Idea into the film it became. I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that...We grounded Katara's brother...and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."[20] Paramount's president Brad Grey said that despite the director's career being inconsistent, he "believed in [Shyamalan's] vision and that he could execute it," adding that "It's a bold step because he had to create a potential new franchise."[5] The studio was willing to spend $250 million in a trilogy of films, one for each season.[21] The Last Airbender's budget wound up being $150 million, with later over $130 million being spent on marketing costs, making it Shyamalan's most expensive film.[5] During production, the name Avatar was removed from the title to avoid confusion with the highly-successful 2009 film Avatar.

text: Casting[edit]

text: Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney.[22] In an interview with People, Shyamalan claimed that he did not want to make The Last Airbender without Nicola Peltz, "I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley in The Sixth Sense auditions."[23] In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced Jesse McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.[24][25] Katharine Houghton played "Gran Gran", the grandmother of Katara and Sokka, and Seychelle Gabriel portrayed Princess Yue, another of Sokka's love interests and princess of the Northern Water Tribe.[26] Isaac Jin Solstein played an earthbending boy.[27] Comedian Aasif Mandvi played Commander Zhao, Cliff Curtis played Fire Lord Ozai, and Keong Sim was cast in the role of an Earthbender.[28]

text: Ringer began practicing Taekwondo – the martial art and national sport of Korea – at the age of 10.[29] His skills later garnered accolades, including the title of American Taekwondo Association Texas State Champion.[29] He began shaving his head during his martial arts training to help cool off, which gave him the nickname "Avatar" due to his resemblance to Aang from the animated series.[29] When he heard about the film adaptation, he made an audition tape with his instructor and sent it to the filmmakers. He hadn't worked on a film before, but his resemblance to Aang – enhanced by painting a blue arrow on his already shaved head, swung him the role.[29] Having not acted before, Ringer was required to attend acting school a month before filming commenced.[29] Peltz was familiar with the character before submitting for the part of Katara, having faithfully watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series on which the film is based, with her younger twin brothers.[29] She describes her character as being a big role model with young girls and women, "She's really mentally and physically strong, strong-willed and -minded, but she's also caring and compassionate... The movie has a lot of values, but it's also fun. It's fantasy, but it's also a really cool battle between good and evil."[29] She explained that she initially didn't know about Rathbone starring in the Twilight films until after she met him and said that working with Shyamalan was an amazing experience.[29] Rathbone, who originally auditioned for the role of Zuko, was approached by Shyamalan to audition for the film.[30] After waiting for six months, he received a call informing him that he was cast as Sokka.[30] Rathbone stated that his favorite scenes were the fight sequences, which he prepared for by stickfighting.[30]

text: Before Slumdog Millionaire was released, Patel auditioned for the role of Zuko by submitting a tape to the studio.[31] Shyamalan called Patel personally to inform him that he got the part.[31] Training for the film was intense, as he had to learn Wushu and different martial arts.[31] Patel recalls fighting, punching, and throwing and said the experience was "truly amazing."[31] While he was filming Slumdog in India, he would finish a take and turn one of the channels over to the animated series.[31] Even though it is based on a cartoon, he wanted to bring as much of himself as possible to the character he was portraying.[31] Shaun Toub, who was cast as Iroh, describes his character in the first film as "loose" and "free".[32] He compares Zuko's "obsession" to his childhood memories and how kids are always looking for their parents' approval, saying that Zuko just wants his father's. "He isn't necessarily bad, he just has a great deal of built up anger and forgets to consider others. I think people will understand that he's not bad, he's just angry and hurting because he really wants his father to love him, but his father is too busy with other things."[32] He says that Patel is an "18 year old with all this energy," and that Patel was able to influence him into appreciating the business of filmmaking more.[32] While comparing the animated series to the film, he says the film is much more serious.[32] He attributed this change to the director trying to relate to every age group, rather than just kids.[32]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Pre-production began in late 2008, while filming began in March 2009 in Greenland. After two weeks, the cast and crew moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where production designers and special-effects crews worked for several weeks, preparing the local site for the film.[33] A production team scouting the area found the pagoda on Mount Penn, which served as an ancient temple in the film.[33] Reading mayor Tom McMahon explained that crews made road improvements and buried electrical lines surrounding the structure.[33]

text: Filming also took place in Ontelaunee Township and at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower in Pennsylvania after the production crew finished at the Pagoda. When asked about shooting the film in Reading, Pamela Shupp, vice president of Berks Economic Development said, "They needed buildings to shoot all the interiors, and were looking for a group of buildings with high ceilings and specific column spacing. We showed them a number of buildings, but we couldn't come up with enough to meet their requirements. So the interiors will be shot in Philadelphia."[20][33]

text: Visual effects[edit]

text: With a film as technologically advanced as Avatar, the expectations of realistically throwing balls of fire and water were pushed to the limit on The Last Airbender.[34] Pablo Helman, who previously worked on Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, was the visual effects supervisor for the Industrial Light and Magic team on the film.[34] He worked closely with Shyamalan, reviewing each scene and talking about the visual effects needed to tell the story, and ultimately worked with about 300 people to reflect the director's vision, who he said planned it all in a story-board book.[34]

text: Industrial Light and Magic was posed with visualizing the elemental tribes of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire; most importantly creating the "bending" styles of these elements.[34] Additionally, they were required to animate creatures and enhance stunt work with digital doubles. "The work was challenging," shares Helman. "We had to figure out what "bending" is for fire, water, air and earth."[34] The project was started without the desired technology needed to create the effects. Rather than software, computer graphic cards were the basis for "bending" the elements, allowing previews to be viewed more swiftly. This resulted in Shyamalan having to direct more than sixty takes before the effect was finished and lined up with his visions.[34]

text: Due to reality-based expectations, fire and water were the hardest elements to effectively bend, and because of particle work which was unable to be rendered in hardware, earth bending also was difficult to create.[34] With water, the variety in different scales required Helman and his team to create different techniques. The concept for air was derived from the animation of the television series.[34] To create the air bending effect, visual effects art director Christian Alzman and digital matte department supervisor Barry Williams explained that seeing dust and snow particles, rather than seeing the air itself, helped shape the real world effect of bending the element. Before the bending effects could be applied though, the actor's movements had to be matched; Shyamalan therefore wanted each character's bending styles to be unique to fit with their unique personalities.[34]

text: The challenge for fire didn't come with making it look realistic, but rather making the fire behave in an unrealistic way that would be believable to the audience.[34] The film that inspired The Last Airbender's fire style was the sixth Harry Potter film, which was re-engineered to reflect two-dimensional simulations.[35] Helman's team referenced images of flames being pushed through the air by giant fans for certain shots needed throughout the film. The team also considered using a meshed image of real and digital fire, but in the end, went with the richer, deeper texture of computer generated flame.[35]

text: In matte paintings, this was the biggest show that Helman had ever done. The paintings had to be in 3D because the visual style included long duration shots in which the camera always moved.[34] The climax, which was enacted on a 200 by 200 feet (61 m × 61 m) set, had to be incorporated with still of the landscapes shot in Greenland, as well as the low-angle lighting that was captured on location there.[34] The camera was animated to get angles needed for different shots in the film by importing these stills into the computer. Multiple cameras were used to capture the different wire-work and animation that was used to create the creatures and many fight scenes within the film. In creating these creatures, the team referenced nature.[34] In order for them to be believable, they looked for examples of the same size and weight as the animated character and then developed hybrids from different animals to make each species unique. This was done by observing actual animals to get a take on how they would act.[34] Shyamalan's take on the personality of each creature also influenced the creation stage of the creatures. For example, the lemur Momo has flying mechanics based on a giant fruit bat. Other elements, such as texturing, hair or scale simulation, and light and shadow complimentary to the live action, were added to make the final animation appear as real as possible during the later stages of character development.[34]

text: Paramount Pictures made an announcement in late April 2010, revealing that The Last Airbender would be released in 3D.[36] This decision came after an increasing number of films being made or converted to 3D, such as Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans, made a decent profit at the box office.[37] Although Helman stated that Shyamalan's way of shooting without fast edits and the film's visuals could lend itself to the 3D conversion well, James Cameron voiced his disapproval on any film being converted using this process, saying, "You can slap a 3-D label on it and call it 3-D, but there's no possible way that it can be done up to a standard that anybody would consider high enough."[38][39] Despite this, Shyamalan opted to work with Stereo D LLC, the company who worked on James Cameron's own Avatar.[36] The conversion process for the film cost between $5 million and $10 million, adding to the reported $100 million that already went into the film.[37]

text: Music[edit]

text: In December 2008, James Newton Howard was announced as the composer for The Last Airbender.[40] The film marks the seventh collaboration between Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, after the 2008 film The Happening. Howard had received acclaim for his work with Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight.[40] On May 13, 2009, producer Frank Marshall announced that Howard was recording music for the teaser trailer that was later released that summer;[41] it was later confirmed by Frank Marshall that all of the film's trailers featured original music by Howard himself.[42] The soundtrack, released by Lakeshore Records on June 29, 2010, required Howard to hire a 119-member ensemble.[43] Running at about 66 minutes, it contains eleven tracks ranging from three to seven minutes, with a twelfth track, called "Airbender Suite" running at nearly eleven minutes. Reviews for the score were overwhelmingly positive.[43][44][45]

text: Casting controversy[edit]

text: The casting of white actors in the East Asian and Inuit-influenced Avatar universe, as well as the fact that the casting of the heroes and villains seemed to be backward racially from the show, triggered negative reactions from some fans marked by accusations of racism, a letter-writing campaign, and various protests.[46][47] "To take this incredibly loved children's series, and really distort not only the ethnicity of the individual characters but the message of acceptance and cultural diversity that the original series advocated, is a huge blow," said Michael Le of Racebending.com, a fan site calling for a boycott of the martial-arts fantasy.[48] As a result of the casting, the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans urged a film boycott for the first time in the organization's 18-year history. "This was a great opportunity to create new Asian-American stars...I'm disappointed." stated Guy Aoki, president of the organization.[49] After a casting call specifically looking for "Caucasians and other ethnicities," Shyamalan explained that "Ultimately, this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tent-pole movies ever released, period." Furthermore, Paramount provided a statement about the casting choices, "The movie has 23 credited speaking roles – more than half of which feature Asian and Pan Asian actors of Korean, Japanese and Indian descent. The filmmaker's interpretation reflects the myriad qualities that have made this series a global phenomenon. We believe fans of the original and new audiences alike will respond positively once they see it."

text: Shyamalan commented on the issues regarding fans' perceptions of the casting in an interview with Washington Post columnist Jen Chaney, saying, "Anime is based on ambiguous facial features. It's meant to be interpretive. It's meant to be inclusive of all races, and you can see yourself in all these characters...This is a multicultural movie and I'm going to make it even more multicultural in my approach to its casting. There's African-Americans in the movie...so it's a source of pride for me. The irony that [protesters] would label this with anything but the greatest pride, that the movie poster has Noah and Dev on it and my name on it. I don't know what else to do."[50] In this quote, Shyamalan's reference to Noah Ringer can be explained by Noah's self-identification of his ancestry as "American Indian," although critics of the film's casting have presumed that the actor is simply "white" when making their complaints.

text: Rathbone was also one to dismiss the complaints in an interview with MTV, saying, "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit."[51] The controversy was poorly received by critics as well.[52] Film critic Roger Ebert was one of the critical voices against the casting. When asked about casting a white cast to portray the characters, he said, "The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and popular for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Its fans take it for granted that its heroes are Asian. Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts."[53] Jevon Phillips of the Los Angeles Times noted that despite Shyamalan's attempts to defuse the situation, "this is definitely not an issue that will fade away or be overlooked" and that this film exemplifies the need for a debate within Hollywood about racial diversity in its films.[54]

text: In July 2013, series co-creator Bryan Konietzko responded to an online comment about skin color in The Legend of Korra. Konietzko wrote that his work on the two series "speaks for itself which obviously does not include the gross misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our work in [Shyamalan's] work."[55]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Promotion[edit]

text: The teaser trailer for the film was attached to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, released in theaters on June 24, 2009.[56] The teaser trailer was also shown exclusively on the June 22, 2009 episode of Entertainment Tonight.[57] The trailer shows Aang airbending in a temple which is being attacked by a multitude of Fire Nation ships. A trailer was to be released around Christmas 2009, but it was pushed back until February 2010 because not enough visual effects shots were completed.[58][59] This trailer was attached to the first Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief film released on February 12, 2010.[60] A trailer was later released on March 25, 2010.[61] It was then attached with How to Train Your Dragon. The last theatrical trailer is attached to Iron Man 2 which was released May 7, 2010.[62]

text: The first TV spot aired during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010.[63] It showed parts of the film that were not shown in the teaser trailer and had no diagetic dialogue, but merely narration. On February 10, the theatrical trailer was released online.[64] It shows multiple scenes from the film and is an expanded version of the first TV spot. McDonald's sold Happy Meals to promote the film.

text: On February 9, 2010, Nickelodeon Consumer Products also debuted the upcoming line of toys based on The Last Airbender. It includes various 33⁄4-inch action figures, as well as larger, action-enabled figures, costumes and other props. Among the toys featured in the line were figures based on Aang, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and a fully ride-able Appa the Sky Bison.[65] "We worked very closely with M. Night, the rest of the Paramount team and our in-house design team, along with our partner Spin-Master, to come up with the right assortment, the right size for these action figures and make sure we had representation of all the nations within the 'Airbender' series," said Nickelodeon's Lourdes Arocho. The Last Airbender action figures are expected to be released in three "waves"; wave one on June 1,[66] wave two near the film's July release date, and wave three near the 2010 holiday season.[65] THQ Studio Australia also developed a video game based on the film. Titled The Last Airbender, it was released on June 29, 2010 for the Wii and the Nintendo DS.[67]

text: Graphic novels[edit]

text: Two original black-and-white graphic novels, entitled The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story and The Last Airbender, drawn in the manga style, were written by Dave Roman and Alison Wilgus. "We're excited to be working with Nickelodeon to bring these great stories to the manga audience", says Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga. "Avatar: The Last Airbender has shown incredible crossover appeal with manga fans. The release of The Last Airbender movie and original tie-in manga gives us the chance to share completely new stories with Avatar fans looking for more about Aang, Zuko, and their favorite characters."[68] The second manga, The Last Airbender, illustrated by Joon Choi, was released on June 22, 2010. The plot, like the film, is a condensed version of the first season of the series.[69]

text: The prequel, Zuko's Story, is co-written by Alison Wilgus and Dave Roman and illustrated by Nina Matsumoto and was released on May 18, 2010.[70] The synopsis for the graphic novel was released in early 2010, "When Prince Zuko dared to question authority, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, banished him from the Fire Nation. Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko has wandered the earth for almost three years in search of his only chance at redemption: the Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance. Everyone he encounters believes that this is an impossible task, as the Avatar disappeared a century ago. But Zuko stubbornly continues the search. He must regain his honor, so his quest is all he has left."[70]

text: Roman and Wilgus, who developed comics based on the series for Nick Magazine, consulted series creators Mike Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and head writer for the show Aaron Ehasz while they were developing Zuko's Story.[71] The four wanted to try a comic that would fit into with the continuity of the show. The prequel, though mostly associated with the film, was meant to be a prequel to the series.[71] Roman explained, "In a lot of ways, it's like an expanded origin. With the film and the series, there are differences and there are places where they split off, but the setup for both is exactly the same – so when you're introduced to the characters, that's the part where they're completely identical." The prequel allowed the expansions of different details told in the series; for example, an episode called "The Blue Spirit" in the series was seen in the film.[71] However, since explaining everything that happened in that episode was hard to translate onto film, the prequel allowed for them to "delve" into that specific story. What more, when asked about whether he answered some questions that were left open at the end of the series, Roman stated that, while he had a strong relationship with the show's creators and got their blessing for his project, it wasn't his plot to address.[71]

text: Release[edit]

text: The Last Airbender was rumored to be released in the summer of 2010 before it received a formal release date of July 1, 2010.[72] To avoid confusion with James Cameron's Avatar, the title was changed from Avatar: The Last Airbender to simply The Last Airbender.[72] On June 16, 2010, it was revealed that the film would be released on July 1, 2010, and after questions about the definition of the release being limited or wide, was later confirmed by the studio to be a full nationwide release.[7][73] The film premiered in New York City on June 30, 2010,[11] and opened the following day in 3,169 theaters, against The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which also stars Jackson Rathbone.[74]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The Last Airbender was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.[75] At the same time, a Blu-ray 3D version was also made available exclusively at Best Buy locations.[76] The Last Airbender grossed $12,757,094 and sold a total of 750,859 units in its first week on DVD.[77] The Last Airbender was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 25, 2017.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Last Airbender had grossed $131,772,187 in the United States, and $187,941,694 in other countries, making for a total of $319,713,881 worldwide.[2]

text: On its opening day in the United States, The Last Airbender made $16,614,112, ranking fifth overall for Thursday openings.[78] For its opening three-day, Fourth of July weekend, The Last Airbender accumulated a total of $40,325,019. The following Monday, it grossed $11,479,213. 54% of its total gross was from 3D presentations at 1,606 screens. On Thursday, July 1, 2010, its opening day, it debuted at #2 behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It stayed #2 until Monday, July 5, 2010, when it went down to #3 now behind Eclipse and Toy Story 3. On July 9, it went down to #5 behind Despicable Me, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Predators, and Toy Story 3. By Friday, July 23, it was down to #9 behind Inception, Salt, Despicable Me, Ramona and Beezus, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, and Eclipse.[79]

text: Opening overseas in 923 sites, the film grossed an estimated $9 million, $8 million of which was from 870 sites in Russia, making it the number one film there.[80] The film grossed $9.4 million from its second weekend in overseas markets.[81]

text: The film was the twentieth highest-grossing film of 2010.[82]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The film was panned by critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave a 6% approval rating based on 183 reviews with an average rating of 2.8 out of 10, making it the lowest rated film ever produced by Nickelodeon Movies, and Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[83] The consensus was "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[84] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on reviews from the top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 20 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[85] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was "C" on an A+ to F scale.[86]

text: Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail stated the film had little chance to develop its characters and therefore suffered, with the overall storyline of the film becoming a run-on narrative.[87] According to Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly, who gave the film a C, "The Last Airbender keeps throwing things at you, but its final effect is, in every way, flat."[88] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film half a star in his review, stating that it "bores and alienates its audiences," and notes the poor use of 3D among the film's faults.[89] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club gave the film an F, criticizing the performances of the child actors, overuse of exposition, and shoehorned 3D special effects, calling it the worst summer blockbuster of 2010.[90] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that the lack of correct casting caused the film to lose substantial credibility in regard to its source material, but did praise the casting and acting of Noah Ringer as Aang.[91] Peter Debruge of Variety criticized the casting and the score, saying that the overall effect of each play into making the film a bore.[92] Rifftrax put the film at number 5 of The top 10 Worst Movies of All Time, saying "We CAN state for the record that it is quite easy to detest this movie even if you've never seen a frame of the TV show." [93]

text:
"The Last Airbender" is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that.

—Roger Ebert, Sun Times[94]

tag: table

text: Charlie Jane Anders in the review by io9 criticized "the personality-free hero, the nonsensical plot twists, the CG clutter, the bland romance, the new-age pablum...", concluding that "Shyamalan's true achievement in this film is that he takes a thrilling cult TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he systematically leeches all the personality and soul out of it – in order to create something generic enough to serve as a universal spoof of every epic, ever."[95] Anders summarized the experience of watching the film by stating that, "Actually, my exact words when I walked out of this film were, 'Wow, this makes Dragonball Evolution look like a masterpiece.'"[95] Ain't It Cool News' review questioned why Shyamalan was allowed to write the script, as well as why he was even chosen to direct such a high-profile film after a string of previous flops: "Burdened by [a] never-ending onslaught of expository dialogue awkwardly delivered by actors giving career-worst performances across the board, The Last Airbender is so outrageously bad it's a wonder it ever got before cameras."[96]

text: Scott Bowles of USA Today gave a generally favorable review, claiming that Shyamalan delivered on fight scenes and the film worked as a kid's film, although he also added that poor scriptwriting made some of the performances sound wooden.[97] Another favorable review came from Stephanie Zacharek of MovieLine, who praises the way Shyamalan captures the art of action and human motion.[98] David Roark of Relevant Magazine accused other critics of having a bias against Shyamalan and gave the film a positive review, stating that its visuals and heart far outweighed the clunky plotting and "awful" dialogue.[99]

text: Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted an unfortunate linguistic problem that reduced British viewers to "a state of nervous collapse" due to laughter. In British English, 'bent' is a slang term for gay, with 'bender' meaning a gay man, giving an entirely different meaning to lines such as, "I could tell at once that you were a bender." Bradshaw commented that the response from the audience to such lines was "deafeningly immature" and would "inevitably be repeated in every cinema in the land showing The Last Airbender."[100]

text: Creators' responses[edit]

text: In a Reddit AmA thread by Dante Basco, the original voice of Prince Zuko, when he was asked what he thought of the Last Airbender film, he responded by saying that Konietzko and DiMartino told him not to see it.[101]

text: The creators officially said that they would like to pretend the film does not exist.[102] Bryan and Mike spoke extensively about how the project was given the go-ahead without their approval, and when they tried to provide input it was ignored.[103]

text: Director's responses[edit]

text: In a Vulture interview, Shyamalan argued that his style and art-form of storytelling resulted in the negative reviews of the film and compared it to asking a painter to change to a different style: "I bring as much integrity to the table as humanly possible. It must be a language thing, in terms of a particular accent, a storytelling accent. I can only see it this certain way and I don't know how to think in another language. I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don't know how to adjust it without being me."[104]

text: Shyamalan also addressed criticisms about the barely 90 minute runtime of the film, which was considered bizarre given that it had to condense a 20-episode TV season into one film, and is a far shorter runtime than is typical for summer blockbusters. Shyamalan's response was that all of his previous films were 90 minutes, because they were small-scale supernatural thrillers, and as a result his instinct for the pacing of the film was to edit it down to 90 minutes. This short runtime indirectly led to several other problems which multiple critics listed above objected to: characters frequently resort to giving long speeches of exposition to summarize entire scenes that were cut for time, and a running voiceover commentary by Katara was added in which she summarizes entire subplots (e.g. Sokka's relationship with Yue) that barely appear on screen.[104]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: The Last Airbender received nine nominations at the 31st Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture.[105] The film went on to sweep the Razzies with five awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Shyamalan), Worst Screenplay (Shyamalan), Worst Supporting Actor (Jackson Rathbone), and a special award, "Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D."[106][107][108]

text:
Award
Year
Category
Nominee
Result

Teen Choice Awards
2010
Choice Summer: Movie
The Last Airbender
Nominated

International Film Music Critics Association
Film Music Composition of the Year for "Flow Like Water"
James Newton Howard

Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror film

Young Artist Award
Best Performance in a Feature Film (Leading Young Actor)
Noah Ringer

Best Performance in a Feature Film (Supporting Young Actress)
Seychelle Gabriel

31st Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Picture
Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer and M. Night Shyamalan
Won

Worst Director
M. Night Shyamalan

Worst Screenplay

Worst Supporting Actor
Dev Patel
Nominated

Jackson Rathbone, also for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Won

Worst Supporting Actress
Nicola Peltz
Nominated

Worst Screen Couple
The Entire Cast

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
The Last Airbender

Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D
Won

text: Possible sequels[edit]

text: Shyamalan or Paramount/Nickelodeon did not immediately confirm the "go-ahead" or whether the plug will be pulled on the trilogy.[109][110][111] While filming The Last Airbender, Shyamalan mapped out a rough draft for a second film that is "darker" and includes Azula, portrayed by Summer Bishil, as the main antagonist.[109] In a July 2010 interview with New York Magazine, Shyamalan commented "In the next few months we'll be able to know whether we have that opportunity or not" when asked about the sequel.[110] No such announcement was made and in a September 2010 interview when asked if he knew when the sequel will be made, he replied, "I don't, because there are so many factors they take into account", adding, "I guess it will get into an area where it becomes a discussion – like pros and cons."[112][113] In September 2015, Shyamalan confirmed to Metro UK that he may work on the sequel after completing his next thriller,[114] which started shooting in November 2015.[115]