In 2005, at the same time James Cameron announced “Avatar,” he also proclaimed his intentions to make “Battle Angel” — a futuristic love story thriller about a 26th-century cyborg” that he also envisioned as a trilogy in 3D, based on Yukito Kishiro‘s 12 popular Japanese graphic novels (titled “Battle Angel Alita“) about a nymphette who morphs into an action heroine.
In June 2010, the Wall Street Journal, speculating what could come next for Cameron said that “Avatar 2” was a few years off and that “some other big film that uses that same technology” could trump it. We speculated that “Battle Angel” could be that project. Obviously, Cameron has since announced “Avatar 2” and “Avatar 3” will be next with the films hitting in December 2014 and December 2015 respectively, but “Battle Angel” is still very much on his radar.
Speaking with Collider during press rounds for the forthcoming underwater thriller “Sanctum” which Cameron produced, the director revealed he still intends to direct “Battle Angel” but that it pretty much won’t happen until the “Avatar” films are finished. “I’m obviously going to be pretty busy for the next five years [with Avatar 2 and 3]. And so I had to consider, do I hand this project off to another director? And then I thought, ‘No, I love it too much,’” he said. And if manga fans are wondering how Cameron will approach the material he already has some ideas saying, “It’s such a rich world. What I’m going to do is take the spine story and use elements from the first four books. So, the Motorball from books three and four, and parts of the story of one and two will all be in the movie.”
So, will James Cameron still be interested in “Battle Angel” five or six years from now? It remains to be seen but clearly he’s still invested in the project and is not ready to let it go just yet.
As for the upcoming “Avatar” sequels, Cameron insists that the 3D this time around is going to be even more…..3D-ier, and less aggravating on the eyes. “For ‘Avatar 2,’ what I’m most interested in is getting theaters to up their light level,” Cameron told the Wall Street Journal Speakeasy blog. “And we want to shoot the movie at 48 or maybe even 60 frames a second, and display it at that speed, which will eliminate a lot of the motion artifacts that I think are causing some people problems.”
Whatever, guy. When you invent 3D where we don’t have to wear those dumb glasses and pay a premium price for the privilege, give us a ring.
