Trivia / Alita: Battle Angel

• Acting for Two: Mahershala Ali plays both Vector and another character. He's the main channel for Nova.
• Approval of God: Yukito Kishiro, despite being known as rather strict toward the adaptations of his works (he previously disowned the OVAs), embraced the film enthusiastically, reportedly watching it several times. He even drew an illustration based on it, as well as took part in the movie's promotion in China, its best-performing market.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Rosa Salazar was very enthusiastic to play Alita, to the point of bringing much physical dedication to the role. She later said that she wants to play the role "for the rest of [her] life", even in the face of the uncertainty of a sequel happening.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub of the film, the titular heroine is voiced by movie actress Mone Kamishiraishi, better known for voicing Mitsuha Miyamizu in Your Name.
• Completely Different Title: Zig-zagged in Latin America. The film was initially marketed with a straightforward translation of its original title (Alita: Ángel de Combate), which was also the title used in Spain. However, it was afterwards changed so that the subtitle became the title itself while gaining the new subtitle "The Last Warrior" in the process (Battle Angel: La Última Guerrera).
• Deleted Role: Tiffany Grant and Amanda Winn-Lee, who participated in the English dub of the OVAs, played extras in the film, but their scenes were cut from the final product.
• Development Hell: No sequel plan has been announced ever since the release, which has been interpreted as a sign of Stillborn Franchise. However, during the promotional campaign of Avatar: The Way of Water, producer Jon Landau has talked about pushing for a Alita sequel in an interview, and James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez have teased a "blood oath" on a Zoom meeting to make it happen. Landau eventually confirmed that the sequel is in development.
• Fan Community Nicknames: The movie's fanbase is commonly referred to as "The Alita Army".
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: Christoph Waltz dubs himself in the German dub.
• The Other Darrin: Unlike with what happened with the Ghost in the Shell (2017) live-action film, the Japanese dub uses a different cast from the sole anime OVA from the 90s, despite most of the voice cast being still alive and well:
  • The already mentioned Mone Kamishiraishi replace Miki Itō as Alita.
  • Toshiyuki Morikawa replaces Shunsuke Kariya as Dr. Ido.
  • Nobunaga Shimazaki replaces Kappei Yamaguchi as Hugo.
  • Hiroshi Kamiya replaces the late Kōji Totani as Zapan.
  • Masafumi Kimura replaces Ryūzaburō Ōtomo as Grewishka
• Release Date Change: Twice. The film was originally set for release on July 20, 2018, before being delayed to December 21 of the same year, where it would have faced heavy competition with Mary Poppins Returns, Aquaman and Bumblebee, plus earlier releases that held strong like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The Mule. It was delayed again to February 14, 2019 for precisely this reason, with a PG-13 edit of Deadpool 2 taking its original release date.
• Saved from Development Hell: The film's development was on again and off again with rumors as far back as the early 2000s including supposed casting calls for a little girl who could move like a cat... then nothing. Then James Cameron said he was waiting for the technology to catch up to his vision (as he usually does). His own series Dark Angel was effectively a trial run for Alita, starring Jessica Alba as a nimble, cat-like Super-Soldier living in a Used Future city. Then came the CGI-fest Avatar. Word of God has stated that after he was done with Avatar he still did not believe the technology was ready yet. After multiple delays and Cameron being way too busy with the Avatar sequels, he officially passed the project off to Robert Rodriguez to direct (with Cameron still producing). Rosa Salazar was cast in the title role (beating out Maika Monroe and Zendaya), and 20th Century Fox began negotiating the budget down from the $170-200 million range before they would officially greenlight the film.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The anime OVA will never see a re-release. In addition to it being disowned by the author, James Cameron holds all authority concerning adaptations of the series as of 2021, meaning any and all decisions concerning future Alita adaptations will have to go through him.
• Uncredited Role: Alex Moore plays a girl in one of the windows.
• What Could Have Been:
  • James Cameron was set to direct the film, before he handed the directing duties over to Robert Rodriguez due to being very busy on the Avatar sequels.
  • Avan Jogia and Jack Lowden all were considered for the role of Hugo, but the filmmakers cast Keean Johnson, who is part-Hispanic on his mother's side, as they were looking for someone more "ethnically ambiguous."

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