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James Cameron: Battle Angel Alita 'Still On My Radar'

In a video interview with the movie website Coming Soon, Avatar director James Cameron made reference to his planned adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's manga Battle Angel Alita. Although no new information was revealed on the possibility of the production, Cameron says that the project is "still on my radar. It's a story I love. I wrote the script back before I started Avatar. And again, we have to figure out where it lies. I don't have infinite time."

The interview is largely about the theatrical re-release of Avatar on August 27. The discussion on Battle Angel begins at about 05:10 in the video.

Cameron first confirmed the Battle Angel project's existence in 2003, and in 2004 it was supposed to be his next film after the documentary Aliens of the Deep. In 2005 The Hollywood Reporter magazine reported that the project was delayed for a "Project 880," an early draft of the project that became Avatar. The status of Battle Angel remains unclear; in 2008 Cameron said he wasn't planning to do Battle Angel after Avatar. In 2009 Cameron said he was considering it for his next project and that the project was already scripted and had a year of design work. However, Cameron has also said this year that Battle Angel would come after an Avatar sequel.

Kishiro's manga, titled GUNNM in Japan, ran in Shueisha's Business Jump anthology from 1990 to 1995, followed by the 1995-1996 follow-up Ashen Victor and the single-volume GUNNM: Other Stories. The story continued in 2001 with the retelling Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, which is currently on indefinite hiatus, pending an issue between Kishiro and Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine. Viz Media has licensed all but Other Stories for release in North America. In 1993, a two-episode original video anime (OVA) project based on the manga was released, and ADV Films licensed the anime.

[Via Empire Online]