James Cameron is reportedly selling some of his property to help move Alita: Battle Angel 2 forward.
On our patented Film Stories James Cameron Wild Behaviour scale, this story won’t reach the same dizzying heights of piloting a submersible to the deepest oceans on Earth, stapling crew members’ mobile phones to walls or traumatising Ed Harris but it’s still pretty interesting as it seemingly confirms that we’ll be getting a sequel to 2019’s Alita: Battle Angel. The Avatar filmmaker is reportedly selling his $33 million Gaviota Coast ranch in California and when Forbes asked him why, he had this to say:
“On Avatar, I’m working in Wellington and Los Angeles. And on the new Alita: Battle Angel films, I’ll be working in Austin, so it just didn’t make sense for us anymore.”
This seems to confirm what Cameron’s producing partner Jon Landau said last December, when he stated that a sequel to the 2019 film was still ‘on the table.’ The Robert Rodriguez-helmed original film, based on Yukito Kishiro’s anime of the same name, followed a cyborg with no memory of a previous life, and the quest to discover her destiny.
If Cameron is selling his house, then we reckon that the film must have been green-lit following some productive discussions with Disney. Given the director’s famous temper (see above reports of stapling mobile phones to walls) we’d hate to be the Disney executive who’d have to tell him ‘no’ if he’s gone to the trouble of selling a $33 million ranch. Just imagine how many rooms you’d have to tidy up for the website photos!
The original film back in 2019 didn’t set the world on fire but clearly had lots of potential for future entries given the strength of its world-building, something we’ve discussed previously here. We’ll keep tabs on this one and let you know when we hear more.
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