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Cameron's Next Films to Be Avatar 2/3, Not Battle Angel

posted on by Egan Loo
Sequels to James Cameron's 2009 film to open in December 2014, December 2015

The Variety entertainment news source reports that director James Cameron has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to make Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 as his next films. The films, which were confirmed by Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, will open in December 2014 and December 2015, respectively.

Cameron has been working on a film adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) manga since at least 2003. As recently as this past August, Cameron confirmed 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."

In 2004, Cameron discussed the pre-production work that he was doing for Battle Angel after the documentary Aliens of the Deep. In 2005, The Hollywood Reporter magazine reported that Cameron may first film "Project 880," an early name for the project that became Avatar. In 2008, Cameron said he was not planning to do Battle Angel after Avatar. Last year, Cameron said that he was considering it for his next project and that the project was already scripted and had a year of design work. However, Cameron also said this year that Battle Angel would come after an Avatar sequel.

Kishiro's manga ran in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine 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 hiatus as the result of an issue between Kishiro and Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine. Kishiro plans to move the manga to another publisher, Kodansha. 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 Tadashi Sudo]


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