Filmmaker James Cameron has been working on bringing his feature film adaptation for 90’s manga Battle Angel Alita to the screen for years now. Initially he indicated that he would wait until CGI reached an acceptable level to bring his vision to life. Then CGI actually reached that level and he used it to instead make Avatar. He also made the second highest grossing film of all time, so it’s totally understandable though.
Cameron has since spent his time almost completely wrapped up in the giant cat-Smurf world of Pandora, meaning very little has happened with Battle Angel Alita, other than him finally realizing last year that he may be too busy for the project and thus handing over the directing duties to Robert Rodriguez. But now there’s finally some movement as it’s been reported by Collider that Cameron has tapped Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials actress Rosa Salazar to lead the sci-fi action franchise.
Salazar, who also co-starred in Insurgent and will also be in the upcoming CHiPs remake, reportedly beat out the likes of It Follows and The Guest‘s Maika Monroe and Disney’s Zendaya for the gig. Not that those two ladies have anything to cry about since they’ve landed lead roles in two other prominent franchises in Independence Day: Resurgence and Spider-Man: Homecoming respectively.
What’s more, its also been revealed by ComingSoon just when Cameron and Rodriguez will be dropping their film on the world, as 20th Century Fox has scheduled the film’s release for July 20, 2018. That would make it 9 years after Cameron first revealed his plans for the adaptation. And for those of you that haven’t been paying attention in all that time, Battle Angel Alita (known as Gunnm in Japan) was created by Yukito Kishiro and is set in the 26th century. It “tells the story Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg who is rescued from a scrapyard by a doctor. The rebuilt Alita, remembering only her training in a deadly martial art, becomes a hunter-warrior, tracking down and eliminating vicious criminals. Within the context of an epic action-adventure, the film will explore a young woman’s journey of self-discovery and finding love.”
Cameron, who will be producing Battle Angel Alita alongside Jon Landau, had this to say about the film when he announced that Rodriguez would be directing.
“Robert and I have been looking for a film to do together for years, so I was pumped when he said he wanted to do Battle Angel. He’s very collaborative and we’re already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically. This project is near and dear to me, and there’s nobody I trust more than Robert, with his technical virtuosity and rebel style, to take over the directing reins. We’re looking forward to learning a lot from each other while we make a kick-ass epic.”
Last Updated: June 1, 2016
