Whether Alita: Battle Angel worked for you or not, there’s no denying that the February 2019 release sparked quite the response. Of course the property already had a significant fanbase thanks to the manga source material, but the movie seemed to take it to another level – the kind of level where a fan group raises over $1,800 to fly a banner over the Academy Awards red carpet to try to persuade Disney to make a sequel. Given the ambitious visuals, Alita: Battle Angel cost a pretty penny to make with a reported production budget of $170 million. It wound up making a little over $404 million worldwide, which is a decent grand total, but not enough to roll right into another pricy installment with confidence.

As someone who admittedly had little confidence in the movie after screening preview footage at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 and at New York Comic Con 2018, I didn’t prioritize Alita: Battle Angel when it finally got its nationwide release. Now, having seen it multiple times, I’m kicking myself because I wish I could have been part of those early ticket sales that often have great sway over a studio’s decision to greenligiht a sequel.

Just in case you haven’t given Alita: Battle Angel a go yourself, the movie is now available to stream via HBO GO and Now, and it’s available to purchase on Digital and VOD. The movie features yet another A+ performance from Rosa Salazar (seriously, she always delivers) as the title character. Alita is a cyborg who’s reassembled by Christoph Waltz’s Dr. Dyson Ido. Having awoken with no memory of where she came from, the movie follows Alita as she learns to live a new life in Iron City while also trying to figure out how exactly she acquired such unique fighting abilities.

While chatting with Waltz about his new Quibi “Movie in Chapters,” Most Dangerous Game, I just had to get his take on Alita’s passionate fanbase and whether or not he’s interested in being part of another film:

“Of course! Of course I would! But, you know, I’m as wise as you are. I haven’t heard anything and I’m a little disappointed and surprised that I haven’t heard a thing so far, because I know that it has followers. I know that people liked it and aside from what others said, I loved it and I liked working on it and I liked the result. You know, it was Fox and Fox doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s Disney. Maybe it doesn’t fit into the Disneyfication, but I have no clue. I have no clue. Maybe they’re working on something and I wouldn’t be the first person to hear, but meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything.”

Clearly this isn’t a confirmation that the folks in charge are moving forward with another film, but for what it’s worth, Waltz is well aware of the film’s dedicated fanbase and shares the desire for more Alita. Of course there are a number of challenges that could stop this from happening, namely the production costs and the studio switch, but if continuing to talk about the movie helps keep the hope alive and raise awareness for the first film, I’m thrilled to be a small part of that push.

And again, this quote is only a short snippet of a much longer conversation with Waltz about his new Quibi movie, Most Dangerous Game. You can find out what Waltz first thought of the Quibi format and the movies he recommends watching while we’re all staying safe at home when the full conversation drops tomorrow!