Battle Angel Alita movie has release date and cast

[Q99]

Link to the Wikipedia Link to the IMDB

Robert Rodriguez is directing (of From Dusk Til Dawn, Sin City, Spykids, etc.), Rosa Salazar is Alita, and Christoph Waltz as Dr. Ido for the most central names. James Cameron is both producing and doing the screenplay based on vols 1-4 of the manga. Release date: July next year.

Personally, I'm pretty hyped! Rodriguez's grindhouse experience is applicable, Cameron can sling a nice screenplay, and the cast looks fitting. The first four books make a solid arc too.

[SpottedKitty]

Vols 1-4... It's been a while since I last read them, does that include the point where Alita
Spoiler

gets her uber body that wipes the floor with almost anyone else?

[Q99]

Spoiler

She does have the pretty-strong Berserker body in vols 1 and 2, but you're probably thinking of the Imaginos body, which shows up in vol 9's 'original ending,' being completely overpowering, or in Last Order, with a more modest version that then gets upgraded over time.

I do wonder how much they're going to swap bodies as much in the movie... they go through multiple in that stint of the manga and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't swap around quite as much.

[Vendetta]

It sounds like a good deal of focus is going to be on Motorball, which is a decision I am on board with because a really good version of Motorball on screen would be amazing.

That probably means not that much power creep, more like the difference in books 3 and 4 where Alita has a civilan and competition body.

If only one manga to Hollywood live action film is good ever, I want it to be this one.

[K. A. Pital]

I'd like this to be good, but the recent failures in Hollywood adaptations make me more and more cautious.

Most likely it will suck. Which is a shame, really, you could adapt practically any of the classic GUNNM volumes into a decent film.

[Vendetta]

On the other hand, most Hollywood adaptations are "Take this culturally Japanese thing and set it in America with American tropes", whereas Alita was always explicitly set in America anyway (The Scrapyard is basically on the site of Kansas City).

Plus there's an overall decent cast, based on being one of the most watchable people in Luke Cage Mahershala Ali will be a pretty good Vector. The recent GitS was clearly "A Scarlett Johansen movie", as the Irish Times put it:

Scarlett Johansson has virtually nothing to do as Major Motoko Kusanagi that isn’t covered by the job title Sexy Fighting Lady Robot. Was it intentionally ironic that, in an adaptation of a manga that ponders second-order simulacra, Johansson’s performance could easily have been copied, pasted and coloured in from her performances as Sexy Fighting Lady Assassin (The Avengers), Sexy Fighting Lady Limitless (Lucy), or Sexy Fighting Lady Alien (Under the Skin).

So the film is less likely to be "make the recognisable person do their thing", and also has a decent cast with the right kinds of experience.

We can only hope that Cameron, who has owned the rights to Alita since something like 1999, gives enough of a shit.

[Q99]

On the other hand, most Hollywood adaptations are "Take this culturally Japanese thing and set it in America with American tropes", whereas Alita was always explicitly set in America anyway (The Scrapyard is basically on the site of Kansas City).

Plus there's an overall decent cast, based on being one of the most watchable people in Luke Cage Mahershala Ali will be a pretty good Vector.

Of the cast, the one explicitly Japanese character (Koyomi) has a Japanese actress, and Alita, who, admittedly, preference I'd go for a Japanese actress, instead has a Hispanic actress that looks like Alita.

[Q99]

Trailer's out!

Alita's a little uncanny valley, but clearly purposefully since she's artificial. It looks *really* loyal to the first arc.

[SpottedKitty]

Trailer's out!

Alita's a little uncanny valley, but clearly purposefully since she's artificial. It looks *really* loyal to the first arc.

<nod> I think if I dug out my copies of the original comic I should be able to point to the actual scenes shown in the trailer. I'm cautiously hopeful.

[K. A. Pital]

I have the original volumes in paper form, definetely going to see it.

Unlike Ghost in the Shell, there is no reason for characters to be strictly Japanese. The manga seemed to have a very cosmopolitan feel.

[Q99]

It's technically set in Kansas, and we know at least one Japanese actor is cast anyway. Alita's not, but the actress is non-white and fits the look.

<nod> I think if I dug out my copies of the original comic I should be able to point to the actual scenes shown in the trailer. I'm cautiously hopeful.

Oh yes, it's very based on the original.

I did see people point out differences, but they're pretty minor. Ido is lacking his forehead mark, and Alita had a different body in one of the fights shown.

This trailer alone sells me on it being more loyal than the GitS movie.

[Sidewinder]

Ido is lacking his forehead mark, and Alita had a different body in one of the fights shown.

The forehead tattoo identifies Ido as a citizen of Tiphares, the floating city that is a major part of the background- later, a setting of the story. If it's missing, then either Ido is no longer an exile from Tiphares- a significant change to the character- or he's using make-up to conceal the tattoo, possibly due to guilt/shame over whatever got him exiled.

I notice Jennifer Connelly's character does have the forehead tattoo. She may be portraying Chiren, a character created specifically for the 1993 anime adaptation.

[K. A. Pital]

Ido was from the space elevator, and changing this would change a lot if there are subsequent films to this one. But you can explain the forehead thing away, theoretically.

[LadyTevar]

When I first saw the trailers, I wondered if my eyes were deceiving me, but Alita's eyes have been CGI'd to be bigger. It does circle the Uncanny Valley, but in-character it makes sense. It's not as jarring watching the trailer the second time, so I'm thinking most people will be able to leave the Valley and just see it as "her".

It's been a few years since I'd seen the anime, but unlike GitS, I don't recall that much of the plot. I mostly remember the Doctor's rocket-hammer, and Alita and her friend trying to climb up the tethers to the Floating City. Will this movie be brave enough to show that scene?

Either way... I'm hopeful.