James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez Pledge ‘Blood Oath’ To Make This Cyberpunk Sequel

Fans of Alita: Battle Angel have reason to celebrate. James Cameron revealed in a recent interview with Empire magazine that he and Robert Rodriguez have made a serious commitment to continue the story of the popular cyberpunk film.

“Robert Rodriguez and I have sworn a blood oath to do at least one more Alita movie. In fact, we’re thinking of an architecture that bridges to a third film, but we’ll be satisfied if we can make one more. And we’re making progress on that,” Cameron said.

He also thanked fans for their loyalty. “I appreciate the loyalty of the Alita fans,” he added.

Cameron has been tied up with work on Avatar: Fire and Ash, but now that he is based in Austin, Texas, just a few miles from Rodriguez, he says it’s easier to focus on Alita. “Now that I have a home in Austin, Texas, about three miles from [Robert’s] place, I think we’ll probably get more serious about that as soon as I wrap the mix here in a few weeks,” he told Empire.

Alita: Battle Angel, released in 2019, was directed by Rodriguez and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau. The film was based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga series Battle Angel Alita and starred Rosa Salazar as the cyborg heroine who wakes up in a new body with no memory of her past. The movie also featured Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, and Keean Johnson.

The production of Alita had a long history. Cameron first announced plans for an adaptation in 2003, but the project was delayed for years, partly because of his work on Avatar and its sequels. Rodriguez was named director in 2016, with Salazar cast shortly after. Filming took place mostly at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin from October 2016 to February 2017.

When it premiered in London on January 31, 2019, and later in the United States on February 14, the film earned $405 million worldwide, becoming Rodriguez’s highest-grossing movie. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the fanbase has been clamoring for a sequel ever since.

There were also some legal issues after the release. A Florida-based company, Epic Stone Group, sued 20th Century Fox over the use of the Battle Angel name. The case was eventually dismissed.

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