As we await word on a potential sequel to Alita: Battle Angel, Prime 1 Studio has released a stunning statue to commemorate Rosa Salazar's starring role in the pic, which many have called the best American made live-action anime adaptation.
The film grossed $404.8 million USD from a production budget of $170 million USD. Those figures put the film right on the border of a potential sequel greenlight from Fox. Complicating matters further is the fact that the film was a pre-Disney project from Fox, who are now owned by the House of Mouse. It will be up to an entirely new team to decided whether a sequel happens.
If you want a sequel to happen, purchasing merchandise like the below statue will surely help. Prime 1 Studio is offering a baselien statue for $699 and a deluxe version for $999. Click the Next button below for additional details on both offerings.
Touching on the earlier controversary from the first trailer, where online social media reactions were keenly focused on the size of Alita's eyes. Salazar stated, "The eyes are the windows to the soul, and Alita is an intensely soulful creature. She is an emotional girl, and we need to have those big windows into her soul, and that’s one part of it. The other part is that we were paying homage to Yukito Kishiro’s work. A lot of times someone from Hollywood would go and option a very beloved piece of manga and then they’ll take it and they’ll make the Hollywoodized version of it, stripping it of all of its beautiful qualities that make it a manga. And what we did here was try to stay true to his work as possible and make the cinematic version, not the Hollywoodized version."
Prime 1 Studio & Lightstorm Entertainment are proud to present 1:4 scale statue PMABA-01: Alita Berserker from Alita: Battle Angel (Film) releasing on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2019. From visionary filmmakers James Cameron (Avatar) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), Alita: Battle Angel reimagines the manga series “Gunnm” created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990.
Alita: Battle Angel follows the story of the titular Alita played by Rosa Salazar, a disembodied who awakens with no memory in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by a technological fall. Alita is more than what she seems and has an extraordinary past. As she navigates her new life, she battles other machines who are empowered with skills.
This Premium Masterline statue is well-sculpted and based on the details of the street of Iron City. Two versions will be available for this statue, Regular and Deluxe version. The Regular version comes with interchangeable arms holding a part of the destroyed machine.
Alita Berserker is standing approximately 25 inches tall under a defeated machine with an impressive base environment inspired by the street of the Iron City with LED Light up feature. This is a must have statue for all Alita: Battle Angel fans.
Baseline Version Specifications:
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Statue size approximately 25 inches tall [(H):63.8cm (W):35.4cm (D):35.7cm]
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LED Light-up feature on base
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One (1) Iron City designed base
The Deluxe version comes with multiple interchangeable arms and additional portrait to give fans the ability to change the pose and expression.
According to
Forbes, Alita's box office tally helped the film cover its production costs and tax incentives and rebates should push the film further into the green. The markeint costs should be covered by the film's home video sales, which means that Fox will likely have legtimate discussions about whether to make a sequel.
As far as a sequel is concerned, Salazar is definitely game. "Jon Landau, who I think is incredibly intelligent in this way, says, “We made this movie for audiences to stand on its own, and if the audience likes this movie, they will tell us to make another movie. So that’s why it’s so important if you like Alita to get out to the theaters and tell your friends. The sequel literally depends on you. We haven’t started making a sequel, there’s no start date, and I haven’t signed any paperwork for the second film. It really truly is one of its kind, if that’s what people want. It will be more if that’s what they want too. I can tell you that I will play this character for the rest of my life because I love her and thanks to the performance capture technology, I probably could play this character for the rest of my life."
Speaking to
Digital Spy, James Cameron cited the video game film Warcraft as an example of why he and the studio will be cautious about a sequel. "Well, we obviously have a plan for that. But it's cheeky to set up a sequel before you're proven. That can blow back in your face. We think of something like Warcraft that was clearly set up with the intention to do sequels, and then it becomes mock-able because the film doesn't succeed. But I don't worry about stuff like that. If the film fails, it's its own punishment, you know? It doesn't matter if we get mocked on top of having failed."
Deluxe Version Specifications:
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Statue size with Damascus Blade down approximately 25 inches tall [(H):63.8cm (W):35.4cm (D):35.7cm]
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Statue size with Damascus Blade on shoulder and Centurion gun [(H):63.8cm (W):35.4cm (D):33.2cm]
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Statue size with Damascus Blade up [(H):63.8cm (W):34.7cm (D):52.5cm]
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LED Light-up feature on base
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One (1) Iron City designed base
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Two (2) alternate portrait
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Three (3) interchangeable right-arm holding the Damascus Blade
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One (1) interchangeable left-arm holding the Centurion Gun
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Two (2) interchangeable left-arm holding with and without destroyed Spinal column
While making the film, director Robert Rodriguez revealed that he received 600 pages of notes from producer James Cameron, who had been trying to find the time to direct the project himself for years. However, it wasn't simply nitpicking on Cameron's part, the notes were to instruct Rodriguez on what bits of the original manga to include in the film and what to omit, as there are tentative plans for a trilogy.
Rodrigues, who has shyed away from big-budget tentpoles in recent years, stated that the reason he signed on to the project was because of Cameron. "Making Alita was different. I wasn't working for a studio. I was working for Jim, my buddy and great mentor, so it was like making an independent film. We had so much freedom because he had final say, not the studio."
On why he chose Rose Salazar for the role, Rodriguez revealed, "She was the best for the role. She just blew us away. I chose a bunch of scenes from throughout the whole movie to see the arc of the character. She starts as an innocent girl who becomes more rebellious and then turns into a warrior. She was able to do the whole thing in an affecting way. I was just welled up with tears. By time she left the room, I thought wow, that was powerful."
Lastly, Rodriguez made similar comments as Salazar and Cameron on teh chances for a sequel, namely that it all comes down to the box office gross. "We have to see how the movie does, because it's all financially motivated. But if audiences love the movie and tell us they want more, we'll definitely do more. We based this one on only two of the books in the manga series and there are 30 of them, so there's lots of material to tell more stories. I'm up to it."
The film's closing moments definitely set the stage for a sequel, which would potentially add Ed Norton, Jai Courtney and Michelle Rodriguez to an already impressive cast. Once the smoke clears from the Disney-Fox merger, news on a potential Alita sequel should be revealed rather quickly.
Head over to
NerdReactor.com for the interview quotes.