The #AlitaSequel campaign rages on today, and this time it is lead star Keean Johnson adding fuel to the fire.
Over on UniLad, Johnson went on record to say that Alita: Battle Angel is worthy of not just one sequel, but several. This comes after fans of the sci-fi epic took to the skies last month to campaign for a continuation. Which is to say that they rented out a plane and strategically ordered it to fly over Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Oscar night.
It certainly helped drum up excitement among moviegoers, though whether it prompts 20th Century Fox to get the gang back together remains to be seen. One person who won’t think twice about reprising his role is Keean Johnson, who told UniLad that there is “so much material” for potential Alita sequels.
After hearing stuff from [James Cameron] and Robert [Rodriguez] about where the world could go – I think the more that could come out, the better it’d get. There’s so many different things that could happen and so much material.
This is by no means the first time that someone connected to Alita has touched base on a potential follow-up; prior to the film’s debut back in December, producer James Cameron – a person who has nursed this project from the very beginning – name-dropped two titles.
It’s Alita, colon, Battle Angel. Because the next one will be “Alita: Fallen Angel” and then Alita… you know “Avenging Angel” and then Alita whatever. I mean, that’s assuming we make some money.
And that’s really what it comes down to, at the end of the day. Tethered to a $170M production budget, Alita: Battle Angel didn’t exactly light up the box office in the way Fox would have liked, only notching a global tally of $404M.
But let’s assume the best, and imagine a future in which Alita: Battle Angel 2 – or whatever it may be called – gets the go-ahead. It would certainly open up doors to Edward Norton, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jai Courtney, all of whom were credited with an appearance in Battle Angel on the belief that they’d have much more screentime in part two. Let’s hope Fox’s fabled sequel comes to pass.
