Written By Kieran Bugg
Alita: Battle Angel producer Jon Landau discusses potential sequel and explains how Avatar: The Way Of Water will impact it.
As expected, Avatar: The Way Of Water made a huge splash at the worldwide box office much like it’s predecessor. The long awaited sequel has earned $2.319 billion globally, currently making it the third highest grossing movie of all time.
Furthermore, it’s success makes the possibility for a sequel to another popular franchise all the more likely. Back in 2019, a live action adaptation of the popular manga series Alita: Battle Angel was released in theatres.
Based on Yukito Kishiro’s original creation, the story follows a revived cyborg named Alita, who’s suffering from amnesia. While her body is a machine, she has the brain of a human with no recollection of her past life.
Alita: Battle Angel Producer Jon Landau Teases Sequel
Image: 20th Century Studios
The character was beautifully brought to life by actress Rosa Salazar who received critical acclaim for her performance. Set in the year 2563, the Earth is in ruins following a devastating war known as The Fall.
Alita: Battle Angel was directed Robert Rodriguez who’s known for his work on the Sky Kids franchise. In addition, Rodriguez also served as a director and producer for The Book Of Boba Fett Disney Plus series.
The movie also featured an all-star supporting cast which included: Christopher Waltz, Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly. Moreover, Avatar director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau were both credited as producers for the cyberpunk action film.
Unfortunately, Alita: Battle Angel didn’t make the same impact at the Box Office that the Avatar movies did. Nonetheless, it pulled in an impressive $405 million worldwide making it Robert Rodriguez’s highest grossing movie to date.
Moreover, the movie has garnered a sizeable fanbase who are hoping the see Alita return for a potential follow-up. After all, the ending left the story open for more movies.
In the months that followed, both James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez confirmed that a sequel was in the works. However, there’s been no word since the finalisation of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
Nevertheless, it’s been revealed that talks of a potential sequel are still ongoing behind the scenes. This was revealed by Jon Landau during an exclusive interview with Screen Rant.
He confirmed that discussions with Robert Rodriguez and Rosa Salazar are currently underway for them to return. Furthermore, he credited Avatar: The Way Of Water for making the possibility of an Alita sequel higher.
“We’re working on it. I think what we’ve learned from Avatar is how much more facial nuance and subtlety that we can get into characters that we want to be emotional and emote that are humanoid. Alita would not have been possible, but for what we did on Avatar. Avatar: Way of Water would not be what it is but what we did for Alita. And now let’s put that back and give it back to Alita. We’re talking to Robert and talking to Rosa and all is good.”
Alita: Battle Angel Producer Jon Landau Teases Sequel
Image: 20th Century Studios
With Disney now in charge of the franchise, it’s up to them whether not this sequel gets the green light. Given the colossal success of Avatar, the Alita fandom are strongly expressing their desire for the character’s story to continue.
It looks like that Disney will have no choice but to listen to the fans on this one.