Alita: Battle Angel

Not to be confused with the manga the film is based on, Battle Angel Alita.
Alita: Battle Angel
The girl Cyborg Alita stands ready with a large sword in hand.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Rodriguez
Screenplay by
Based onGunnm
by Yukito Kishiro
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBill Pope
Edited by
Music byTom Holkenborg
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • January 31, 2019 (2019-01-31) (Odeon Leicester Square, London)
  • February 14, 2019 (2019-02-14) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150–200 million[2]
Box office$405 million[4]

Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm (or Battle Angel Alita in English). It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Rosa Salazar stars through performance-capture animation as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson play supporting roles.

Announced in 2003, production was repeatedly delayed due to Cameron's work on Avatar (2009) and its sequels. After years of development hell, Rodriguez was announced as Alita's director in April 2016, with Salazar cast as the lead the following month. Principal photography began in October 2016 in Austin, Texas, mostly at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios, and lasted until February 2017.

Alita: Battle Angel had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on January 31, 2019, and was released in the United States on February 14, 2019, by 20th Century Fox. It is the first film produced by Lightstorm Entertainment since Avatar, and the last film released by 20th Century Fox before the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The film grossed $405 million worldwide, making it Rodriguez's highest-grossing film, and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences, visual effects, and Salazar's performance, while the screenplay was criticized. A sequel is in development.

  1. ^ a b "Film releases". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on September 3, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TheWrap was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Alita: Battle Angel (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  4. ^ "Alita: Battle Angel (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2020.