Alita: Battle Angel 2 Update From Producer Assures Sci-Fi Sequel Talks Are Still Ongoing

As audiences continue to campaign for the sequel, producer Jon Landau offers a confident update on Alita: Battle Angel 2. Produced by Landau and James Cameron, who also co-wrote it, the 2019 movie acted as a live-action adaptation of the manga of the same name, centering on the eponymous cyborg as she is reactivated by a scientist and given a new chance at life without any memory of her past, setting out to discover who she really is. Led by Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz, Alita: Battle Angel scored mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and performed modestly at the box office, with fans of the movie campaigning in the years since for a sequel.

During an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Jon Landau opened up about the potential Alita: Battle Angel 2. The producer confirmed that the sci-fi sequel is still in talks with him, Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez, and expressing that he remains proud of the original movie, regardless of its mixed reception. See what Landau shared below:

Yes, I just answered that I knew before you even got there. I’m very proud of that film, and we were doing it concurrently with Avatar. I was down with Robert on the set doing all that, and Jim was involved too and saw it. It came on HBO one night, and Jim watched it and called me after he watched it. He said, “Jon, Alita was on, I just decided to watch it. It’s a good movie.” (laughs) And it is! So, I want to be able to definitely do more in that world.

How The Long Break After Alita Will Affect Its Sequel

Landau, Cameron and Rodriguez have all remained optimistic about the chances of Alita: Battle Angel 2 since the movie’s release, with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox giving them extra confidence in making the sequel. Cameron even seemingly teased in mid-2023 around the time of Avatar: The Way of Water‘s release that he was working to develop multiple follow-ups to the 2019 movie. Though nothing has been greenlit by the House of Mouse just yet, the ongoing campaigns for it to be made have likely similarly boosted its chances and their hopes to produce it.

Given the original movie took nearly 20 years to be made, Cameron’s dedication to bringing Alita to life makes it all the more likely that the sequel will be produced at some point, though the timeline remains unclear. Generally, a long wait for a sequel can prove problematic for a property, with the likes of Independence Day: Resurgence and Escape from L.A. showing some of the more detrimental strains of a longer gap. On the other hand, there have been some instances of success with long-awaited sequels, namely Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Cameron himself has shown on two separate occasions that a long wait for a sequel could prove beneficial, with both Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Avatar 2 proving to be mammoth successes. Though the latter may not have reached the critical heights of its predecessor, The Way of Water did show that his ongoing passion for a project like Alita: Battle Angel 2 should see the sci-fi sequel enjoy a bigger success than its predecessor by learning from some of the mixed reviews for the original and deliver what fans of the first movie want.