When we last left the saga of the Alita: Battle Angel re-release, the Alita Army had much cause to celebrate. As the 2019 cult favorite secured the weekend of October 30th for a big re-issue in two of the three major domestic theater chains, the fandom was building up funding to deploy an ad campaign to raise awareness. Well, it looks like the profile of this big weekend just received a crucial boost on social media, as 20th Century Studios has now officially thrown the spotlight on the subject themselves, as you’ll see in the post below!
In a chain of events that’s seen not only Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez heeding the call of the fans, but also persuaded producers James Cameron and Jon Landau to make some noise, this latest Twitter post is quite the news story. With merely sharing the news that tickets were on sale for the big Alita re-release, 20th Century Studios has joined a handful of very important figures in the apparatus that made this film a reality in the first place. Oh, and did we mention that even the official Twitter page for Alita: Battle Angel chimed in? Because that totally happened as well.
Truly, this isn’t as ground shattering as 20th Century Studios hypothetically announcing a sequel to Alita: Battle Angel, and tweets are pretty easy to write and send. That still doesn’t negate how the Alita Army of fans pushed for theaters to pick the film back up out of the scrap heap and put in onto their screens, which in turn got studio marketing brass and filmmaker alike to aid the cause. In a year where tons of classics have been hitting the big screen yet again, getting an official studio presence behind Alita: Battle Angel yet again is something that has to be celebrated.
A response like this means that the right people are watching, and listening, for the fan’s response to the return of Alita: Battle Angel. Should those keenly trained eyes see something they like in the big push to get Alita to Zalem in potential sequels, we might not be that far off from an announcement of such a wonderful happening. Though there is one step further that 20th Century Studios could take that would signal even more interest and support, as seen in a recent marketing move for another one of their films.
Earlier today, the studio released a trailer announcing their Halloween offering The Empty Man had tickets on sale, and was scheduled for release into theaters next Friday. That sort of marketing window is something that mostly streaming services have partaken in, as major studios usually need time to ramp up a proper campaign. This horror thriller’s sales strategy could indicate that 20th Century Studios could theoretically release an ad online as late as next Friday, to engage in a similarly timed window to hype Alita: Battle Angel’s homecoming. It’s not a guarantee, but unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.
As it stands, tickets are now on sale for Alita: Battle Angel, as it returns to movie screens far and wide on the weekend of October 30th. However, if you don’t feel safe enough to venture out to a theater, there’s always the option of renting and purchasing the film through physical or digital means. And if you’re a Cinemax subscriber with access to MaxGO, you can see Alita on cable or on streaming with that very privilege.
