The first trailer for Alita: Battle Angel has arrived. Hollywood has had a lot of success bringing comic books to the big screen, especially in recent years. However, as we've seen with movies like this year's Ghost in the Shell, bringing manga to life in the form of a live-action movie has been more tricky. But director Robert Rodriguez is giving it a shot with this movie, which is based on Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita manga. And now we have the first, strange and action-packed trailer for Alita: Battle Angel.
This has been in the works for a long time and is something of a passion project for James Cameron, who is an executive producer on the movie and co-wrote the script. The footage for Alita: Battle Angel is pretty strange, as the main character is a very wide-eyed cyborg, played by Rosa Salazar. The beginning of the trailer is very intimate, with footage showcasing the world this movie takes place in. As it progresses, we see more CGI-heavy action shots, with some very mellow music to underscore the whole thing. All told, this looks pretty crazy, but it's tough to really get a hold on the movie with this teaser trailer alone. Here's the official synopsis for Alita: Battle Angel.
"Visionary filmmakers James Cameron (Avatar) and Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) create a groundbreaking new heroine in Alita: Battle Angel, an action-packed story of hope, love and empowerment. Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. Everything is new to Alita, every experience a first. As she learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson), offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection develops between the two until deadly forces come after Alita and threaten her newfound relationships. It is then that Alita discovers she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the friends and family she's grown to love. Determined to uncover the truth behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to take on the injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that one young woman can change the world in which she lives."
Fox has high hopes for Alita: Battle Angel, which was reportedly delayed quite a few times, as James Cameron kept getting pulled away to work on his Avatar sequels. Robert Rodriguez hasn't ever directed a movie on this scale before. Then again, few directors have, as the movie is said to have a price tag of around $200 million. So Fox needs this thing to be a big hit in order to justify the cost. Is this going to be a surprise like Guardians of the Galaxy? Or is this going to be the next Valerian?
The movie is positioned as one of the major summer releases next year, as it's slated to hit theaters on July 20, 2018. This first trailer may be a bit of a mixed bag, but it certainly makes Alita: Battle Angel something worth putting on your radar for 2018. Be sure to check out the first trailer for Alita: Battle Angel, courtesy of 20th Century Fox YouTube, for yourself below.
