No matter how much of a spectacle Alita: Battle Angel appeared to be, the box office for the movie didn't make a convincing case for a sequel. Grossing $404.9 million worldwide against a $170 million budget, the film just turned a profit after accounting for marketing costs. Yet, many fans have voiced the opinion -- including via a petition that's now crossed 80,000 signatures -- that a sequel is indeed warranted.
Like Pacific Rim, which got a sequel, the international audience for Alita accounted for most of its profits as opposed to the domestic U.S. market. However, with Alita, it seems like Fox isn't going to take the chance and instead has decided to cut whatever losses were incurred. But given the Disney buyout, there are a few reasons the film should get a follow-up.
First, Disney has the clout to take such a chance, especially monetarily. This year alone, the studio has seen billion-dollar grosses from the likes of Captain Marvel, Aladdin, Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King, and there's still the Frozen sequel and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to come. Fox may not have been the strongest brand for adapting the manga in the first place, not even with co-writer and producer James Cameron working with director Robert Rodriguez on the film. But Disney's brand strength is a whole other beast; it's arguably the strongest entertainment brand in the world right now.
A sequel backed by Disney with the necessary funding to make it a true visual masterpiece, not to mention the money to give the film an even bigger marketing campaign this time around, could give Alita's sequel the momentum Fox couldn't give the original film. We're not saying because Disney's making bank right now it's okay for the company to stand a loss, but it has to be noted that modern Disney movies generally don't miss the mark. They usually assemble the right creative teams, cast and marketing personnel, which could see Alita's story reach even greater heights.
Another reason why a sequel should happen is, in a few years, filmmaking technology will be even more advanced. That could mean making this film would be cheaper for Weta, the visual magicians who worked on the first film. This would offset risk.
The risk of a sequel could also be tempered by scaling down the script. The first film dove deep into the 26th century cyberpunk world created by Yukito Kishiro in the '90s. The grimy underworld, the sky city Zalem, the sport of Motorball and so many sick cyborg characters all added to the budget. Maybe by streamlining the focus primarily to Alita, one 'bot, the humans like Dr. Dyson Ido, and the main enemy in Nova, we could see a more streamlined and 'smaller' script. After all, Nova is an immortal who can transfer his mind into different bodies so we don't necessarily need to see her fighting big androids and heavy machinery as in the original movie.
That brings us to the final reason this sequel should be made -- the first film's cliffhanger is just too juicy to leave audiences hanging. After Alita lost the love of her life, Hugo, we saw her looking up at Zalem to challenge Nova, who manipulated her life and caused tremendous tragedy. We don't have to go into the Great Fall anymore as we saw that war via Alita's origin story, so it's simply about moving forward and having Alita cut a path to Nova.
The sequel can be more character-driven, centering on Alita and less on her environment, taking the approach Alex Garland used for Ex Machina. If the sequel's a character study, fans will focus less on world building and more on the protagonist involved. It'd also help diversify Disney's stable of films by offering up a sci-fi flick at a time the studio is mostly making kids' films and superhero movies, thus keeping the studio fresh and dynamic in terms of content. In any case, if the petition in favor of a sequel is any indication, the demand for more of the Battle Angel in action is clearly there.
Helmed by Robert Rodriguez, Alita: Battle Angel stars Rosa Salazar as Alita/99, Christoph Waltz as Dr. Dyson Ido, Keean Johnson as Hugo, Mahershala Ali as Vector, Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Chiren and Ed Skrein as Zapan. The film is currently available on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and digital.