It’s been four years since we had the chance to witness the incredibly ambitious action-adventureAlita: Battle Angel. The movie had the makings of a franchise starter, and yet… there has been no official word or tangible movement onAlita 2since then. Even though the cast and creativessupported the campaign for a sequelover the years. During a press tour for his new filmHypnotic, directorRobert Rodriguezaddressed the future ofBattle Angeland what has happened with the possible franchise over the last few years.
In the interview with Collider’sSteve Weintraub, Rodriguez made it clear that he’s as excited as anyone forAlitato have a future, but one thing severely impacted the development of any sequels: The acquisition of Fox by Disneyin 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 getAlita 2off 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.”
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Everyone Wants to DoAlita 2
Back in December, film producerJon Landauhadsomething similarto say about theAlitasequel. At theAvatar: The Way of Waterpremiere, Landau stated that he had been talking to Rodriguez about the project, and that he’d “love” to circle back to it. As forJames Cameron, we all know that the director will be busy for pretty much the whole decade as he works on thenext three installmentsofAvatar. He co-wrote the script forAlita: 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 amanga seriesof the same name,Alita: Battle Angelhad 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 featuresRosa Salazar,Jennifer Connelly,Mahershala Ali,Christoph Waltz,Jackie Earle HaleyandEd Skrein.
Robert Rodriguez’s new movieHypnoticis 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.
