The fact that Alita: Battle Angel even made it to the big screen at all has to be considered an achievement, when it looked for a long time as though it would be one of many James Cameron projects to fall by the wayside as the filmmaker focused all of his attention on the Avatar sequels.
Cameron first signed on to helm the manga adaptation in 2003, but it would be another sixteen years before Alita made it into theaters, with Robert Rodriguez tackling the first studio-backed mega budget blockbuster of his maverick career.
Reviews were decent, but the box office was unspectacular, and a haul just over $400 million against a budget that may have been as high as $200 million wasn’t enough to get a sequel the green light, matters which were further complicated by Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Fans have never given up, though, and neither has Rodriguez.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the multi-hyphenate talent confirmed that once he’s done with The Book of Boba Fett, he’s planning to develop a pitch for an Alita: Battle Angel sequel.
“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.'”
We’ve heard plenty of rumors that a continuation is on the cards in one form or another, but there’s no guarantee Disney will even embrace Rodriguez’s pitch with open arms. Cross your fingers, then, because the internet would go wild were an Alita: Battle Angel sequel given the official green light before the end of 2022.