Two years ago, I wrote about a source telling me that James Cameron and Jon Landau were trying to get an “Alita: Battle Angel” sequel going. Here’s where it got interesting: then–Disney boss Bob Iger made it very clear that the only way this would happen was if Cameron directed it himself, and not original director Robert Rodriguez.
Cameron is now telling ‘Alita’ fans not to worry — with “Avatar: Fire and Ash” now in the can, it sounds like development is speeding up on that sequel (via Empire Magazine):
I appreciate the loyalty of the Alita fans. Robert Rodriguez and I have sworn a blood oath to do at least one more Alita movie. In fact, we’re thinking of an architecture that bridges to a third film, but we’ll be satisfied if we can make one more. And we’re making progress on that.
Safe to say, it really does sound like more Alita is on the way.
Now that I have a home in Austin, Texas, about three miles from [Robert’s] place, I think we’ll probably get more serious about that as soon as I wrap the mix here in a few weeks.
Cameron has also been planning his “Last Train from Hiroshima” adaptation, which he’s said might be shot between the third and fourth “Avatar” films.
“Alita” followed an amnesiac cyborg who rediscovers her past life as a battle droid. Adapted from Yukito Kishiro’s original manga, the film garnered mixed reviews and made a disappointing $400M worldwide. However, it developed a large fanbase in the years that followed.
It does sound like Rodriguez will finally be directing the sequel, Cameron is just too busy with other projects to go behind the camera on this one, and Rodriguez could probably use the work right now — his last four films were not well received at all (“Red 11,” “We Can Be Heroes,” “Hypnotic,” “Spy Kids: Armageddon”).
Rodriguez will always have a place in cinema history for directing “El Mariachi,” which he shot for $7,000 and transformed into one of independent cinema’s greatest success stories. His other more notable films include “Desperado,” “From Dusk Till Dawn Dawn” and “Sin City.”
His reasoning is simple: Cregger sees himself first and foremost as a writer, and he has little interest in shaping stories around the predetermined “data points” that come with established IP.