Alita: Battle Angelwas the last movie released by 20th Century Fox before the studio was acquired by Disney back in February 2019. After receiving mixed reviews and making just $400 million on the back of its $200 million budget, any future for a franchise was on shaky ground. However, it seems thatRobert Rodriguezis open to making a sequel and has even talked toJames Cameronabout developing it after his work onThe Book of Boba Fettis done. While Cameron had plans for the original movie in the works for almost two decades, fans of the movie will hope that a second film won’t take quite that long.
For Cameron, the project was a passion project but as he began working on hisAvatarsequels, the director handed the film over to Robert Rodriguez to helm. For Rodriguez, it didn’t work out too bad, with the movie becoming the highest-grossing movie of his career, and with almost everyone involved in the movie having expressed some kind of interest in returning for more if they can get the studio on board. While promotingThe Book of Boba Fett, Rodriguez toldThe Hollywood Reporter:
“Jim and I talked about it recently, and we’re still very interested. I told him, ‘Let me deliver Boba and then let’s figure out a pitch.'”
The 2019 movie certainly left the way open for a sequel, with hints of Alita’s past being explored and a bigger role for Edward Norton’s Nova, and despite the slightly lacking in profit, the film has gathered a reasonable sized fan base over the last two years. With Disney currently on a solid run of legacy sequels forDisney+there is every chance they would be willing to give Alita another shot, but probably on a smaller budget and with an eye on streaming rather than a cinematic release. Whether that would fit with Rodriguez and Cameron’s ambitions is doubtful.
Since the merger with Fox, Disney has taken on a number of former Fox-owned movies and churned out sequels in a relatively short length of time. A few weeks ago saw the release ofHome Sweet Home Alone, a legacy sequel to the 1990 John Hughes movie, andThe Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wildis heading to Disney+ soon continuing theIce Agefranchise. With Disney still shuffling a huge number of their newly gained IPs, it could well be that they would get toAlita: Battle Angelon their own but it would seem that Rodriguez is looking to give them a prod in the right direction.
One thing in Rodriguez’s favor is that he has built a good relationship with Disney thanks to his work onThe Book of Boba Fett,and additionally Cameron has discussed how much he wants to start dabbling in streaming. Perhaps this all means that the stars are aligning to bringAlita: Battle Angelback to screens, be that big or small, in the relatively near future. Watch this space.
