It’s been four years since we had the chance to witness the incredibly ambitious action-adventure Alita: Battle Angel. The movie had the makings of a franchise starter, and yet… there has been no official word or tangible movement on Alita 2 since then. Even though the cast and creatives supported the campaign for a sequel over the years. During a press tour for his new film Hypnotic, director Robert Rodriguez addressed the future of Battle Angel and what has happened with the possible franchise over the last few years.
In the interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Rodriguez made it clear that he’s as excited as anyone for Alita to have a future, but one thing severely impacted the development of any sequels: The acquisition of Fox by Disney in 2019. However, the filmmaker is hopeful since projects seem to finally be moving forward at the rebranded 20th Century Studios. So, is there any movement now to get Alita 2 off the ground? Rodriguez breaks it down:
“I mean, movement other than us talking about it? You know, I just wasn't sure it was ever gonna happen because even when the first movie came out, Disney had just bought Fox, so even our marketing people, everybody, were gone by the time that movie came out. And then there wasn't any Fox movies being made for years because Disney was still busy making their own Disney stuff. But now I've seen some Fox movies come out, so that gave me hope. And then when Jon [Landau, producer] mentioned that, and then [James Cameron] and I have been talking that we always wanted to do an ‘Alita’ sequel. He outlined, very thoroughly, a second and a third film, so there's already material there. So yeah, we're hoping that that will happen. But nothing more definitive than that.”
Everyone Wants to Do Alita 2
Back in December, film producer Jon Landau had something similar to say about the Alita sequel. At the Avatar: The Way of Water premiere, Landau stated that he had been talking to Rodriguez about the project, and that he’d “love” to circle back to it. As for James Cameron, we all know that the director will be busy for pretty much the whole decade as he works on the next three installments of Avatar. He co-wrote the script for Alita: Battle Angel, but even though he may not have the time to sit down and write sequels, his outline mentioned by Rodriguez might certainly serve as a starting point.
Based on a manga series of the same name, Alita: Battle Angel had a pretty decent box office performance, with over $400 million grossed worldwide—which suggests there’s a public that would show up for potential sequels. The futuristic story centers around a cyborg girl who tries to uncover the truth of her past. The cast features Rosa Salazar, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Christoph Waltz, Jackie Earle Haley and Ed Skrein.
Robert Rodriguez’s new movie Hypnotic is slated to premiere this Friday, May 12. You can watch the trailer below and look for Steve's full interview with Rodriguez later this week.