Alita: Battle Angel is an adaptation of the similarly named Battle Angel Alita manga, which is called Gunnm in its native Japan. James Cameron originally wanted to adapt it to the big screen until he decided he wanted to make Avatar sequels for the rest of his life. Now the job of directing the adaptation has fallen on Robert Rodriguez’s shoulders.

Rosa Alazar has been cast as the titular Alita, who is a butt-kicking robot girl. Now Christoph Waltz, best known for his performances in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained, is currently in talks to play Dr. Dyson, a cybersurgeon who, in the original story, rescued Alita from a scrapyard and rebuilt her body.

With anime and manga’s resurgence in popularity in Western markets, Japanese media is ripe for the Hollywood treatment. Edge of Tomorrow, which adapted the Japanese novel All You Need is Kill, was a critical and financial hit. Look forward to Alita: Battle Angel in theatres 20 July, 2018.