Alita Sequel: Robert Rodriguez Has Promising Update

Fans hoping to see a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel may finally be getting a follow-up. The initial adaptation grossed a sizable $404 million globally and has since become a cult classic with a huge following online. A sequel has yet to be officially greenlit given the rights lay with 20th Century Studios, the movie studio formerly known as 20th Century Fox. According to Alita helmer Robert Rodriguez, now that the smoke from the Disney and Fox merger has cleared, it’s increasingly possible work may begin on Alita 2 sooner rather than later.

“Yeah, Jim [Cameron] and I always talk about how we’d love to do another Alita,” Rodriguez told TheWrap this week. “That studio [20th Century] was bought by another studio [Disney]. They’re starting to make movies now. But that for a while 20th Century wasn’t making any of their movies. I think now you’re seeing a few rolling out. We would love to.”

Rodriguez directed the film from a script written by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Earlier this year, Cameron not only said sequels were happening, but it was likely multiple films would be made in the franchise. Cameron’s Oscar-winning, money-making Avatar franchise is 20th Century’s biggest property, so it’s likely only a matter of time before the filmmaker is able to get more of the movies off the ground.

“Robert [Rodriguez] and I had a conversation about it two weeks ago. We’re very excited about that prospect,” Alita producer and frequent Cameron collaborator Jon Landau told us last year. “Alita is is a movie that even now having recently like re-watched it for what we had, we’re really proud of that movie. And we think that there are more stories to tell with her character and that’s why we want to go back to it.”

He added, “Alita Army! Way to go keep it up. I got, I tell you a funny story. I went back to Los Angeles. I’ve been in New Zealand for quite some time and I went back to Los Angeles over the summer and the day I was there, the first day back, I opened the Los Angeles Times and there’s an ad from the Alita Army in color and I was like, ‘There you go! Thank you. Keep it up!’”

Alita: Battle Angel is now streaming on Hulu.