The winners of the 18th annual Visual Effects Society (VES) awards was announced on Wednesday and Alita, the character the live-action Hollywood film Alita: Battle Angel won the award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature.

The VES Awards is an event that honor “the most outstanding visual effects work of the year”. It was held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Alita: Battle Angel also received a few nominations which are as follows: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature (for Iron City), Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project, and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature categories. The movie’s number of nominations is tied with Walt Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King.

The movie is produced and directed respectively by James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez. It earned a box office gross of USD $400 million worldwide. While the film premiered on February 14 in the United States, but earlier screenings happened in the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea last weekend. Screenings for Japan (including 4DX screenings) and China was scheduled on February 22 last year.

The film’s U.S. premiere screening was delayed twice originally to be released for July 20, 2018 and on December 21, 2018. Alita: Battle Angel is based on the popular manga series Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) created by Yukito Kishiro.

The film ranked at #2 in South Korea earning US$10.9 million. It earned US$2.9 million in the United Kingdom, US$4.8 million in Taiwan, and US$2.9 million in Malaysia.

Reported budget for the film was between US$150 million to US$200 million. It was expected to earn US$25 million in its first 5 days on its US screening with an estimated domestic total of US$50 million.

Aside from the VES Award, Alita: Battle Angel was nominated and made it to the shortlist for the Visual Effects category of the 92nd Academy Awards along with Makoto Shinkai’s recent anime movie hit Weathering With You.

In the special Japan premiere of Alita: Battle Angel that happened on February 15 last year, Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM) author Yukiro Kishiro was reported to have been very satisfied with the film and showering the staff and cast with praises.

During the special premiere which was attended by director Robert Rodriguez, producer Jon Landau and stars Rosa Salazar and Christoph Waltz, Kishiro told reporters that it was his fifth time to see the film. He was quoted as saying, “Thanks to the great staff, it has become the greatest movie in the world. Every time I see, I can find something new. The composition is amazing. All scenes are special and there are no unneeded ones. It is so exciting that I can’t believe that I created the original story.”

He has consistently shown support for the live-action adaptation of his work, even creating an original poster for the movie along with the comment: “The core part of the manga was brilliantly passed on to the film. Including the characters’ emotion and raison d’etre, they were perfectly reflected in the film, so I was very happy.”

Congratulations to Alita: Battle Angel! If ever you haven’t seen the film yet, we recommend that you get the BluRay release and enjoy the action and its awesome effects!

About Alita: Battle Angel (Synopsis)

Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, 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. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.

About GUNNM (Manga Synopsis)

In a dump in the lawless settlement of Scrapyard, far beneath the mysterious space city of Zalem, disgraced cyber-doctor Daisuke Ido makes a strange find: the detached head of a cyborg woman who has lost all her memories. He names her Alita and equips her with a powerful new body, the Berserker. While Alita remembers no details of her former life, a moment of desperation reawakens in her nerves the legendary school of martial arts known as Panzer Kunst. In a place where there is no justice but what people make for themselves, Alita decides to become a hunter-killer, tracking down and taking out those who prey on the weak. But can she hold onto her humanity as she begins to revel in her own bloodlust?

Source: ANN