Before jumping on Disney's latest escapades in the Star Wars universe, The Book of Boba Fett, Robert Rodriguez directed the surprisingly decent anime and manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel in 2019. Despite the usual pitfalls and tribulations live-action anime adaptations typically run into, it earned plenty of positive reviews and even helped land Rodriguez a spot on the hit show The Mandalorian, per a Hollywood Reporter interview. In that same interview, he revealed he still wanted to bring back Alita for another go-around with James Cameron if someone would support it.
"Jim (Cameron) and I talked about it recently, and we’re still very interested," Rodriguez stated. "I told him, ‘Let me deliver Boba and then let’s figure out a pitch.'" Even with his and Cameron's now public support, though, it would still be difficult to get an Alita sequel off the ground. The original film grossed $405 million at the box office worldwide, a bit of a disappointing sum considering the massive budget. Still, it's a glimmer of hope for Alita fans knowing that the writer and director are both still on board if they can find someone willing to take a chance on the film.
Alita: Battle Angel was a massive 20-year passion project for Cameron who appreciated the story of a character who stuck to their beliefs and morals in a world that had entirely forsaken such concepts long ago. In case you need a refresher, the film followed the cyborg Alita who, after being recovered from a scrapyard and restored by the compassionate Dr. Dyson Ido, awakens with no recollection of who she is or what the world around her was like. She sets out into Iron City to discover who she was and make a new life for herself in a place completely foreign to her.
Ever since the movie came out, there have been calls for Disney to buy in on another film in the franchise. For context, Alita was the last film distributed under 20th Century Fox before it was swallowed up by Disney in 2019, hence the focus on them. Even the first movie's cast members are on board, though. Christopher Waltz, who played Dr. Ido in the film, jumped on the sequel hype train back in 2020, ecstatic to reprise his role and a bit bummed that there wasn't any momentum behind the scenes in regards to another movie.
Rodriguez's comments on developing a pitch for the movie are likely the most movement we've seen towards a potential sequel so far. Once his time on The Book of Boba Fett concludes, we'll see if that interest translates into a second chance for Rosa Salazar's cyborg angel.