James Camerons Battle Angel Alita Off The Table UPDATED

For years, anime fans held their breath over the possibility that director James Cameron (Avatar) would be launching a live-action adaptation of Battle Angel Alita.

Now, a recent New York Times interview with Cameron hints at him taking all his non-Avatar related projects off the table for keeps, Alita included.

From the interview:

Last year I basically completely disbanded my production company's development arm. So I'm not interested in developing anything. I'm in the Avatar business. ... [T]hat all sounds I suppose a little bit restricted, but the point is I think within the Avatar landscape I can say everything I need to say that I think needs to be said, in terms of the state of the world and what I think we need to be doing about it.

Cameron had talked before of multiple sequels to Avatar, designed to further explore the world (and universe) he had created for that blockbuster film. Given the sheer amount of work involved in creating these films, also hinted at the interview, fans of Alita were worried that riding the Avatar train would take Cameron that much further away from working on that live-action anime adaptation.

The Alita anime (Gunnm in Japan, Battle Angel in English) was adapted from the first few chapters of Yukito Kishiro's long-running manga series about a cyborg bounty hunter, Gally, eking out a living in the appropriately-named "Scrap Iron City". Rescued from a scrap heap and restored by a fellow bounty hunter named Ido, Gally falls in love with a young man who has dreams of escaping Scrap Iron City and emigrating to Zalem, the floating metropolis in the sky.

With this live-action adaptation off the map -- at least for the time being -- Alita's a prime candidate for being featured on our list of Anime That Deserve Live-Action Adaptations. I hold out hope it'll be made someday, and then be entered into another list of honor here: Best Live-Action Anime Adaptations.

[Addendum 5/8/2012: According to Ain't It Cool News, Cameron is still interested in doing the film -- just not for a few years. That outrush of air you just heard is the sound of fans collectively sighing with relief.]

Image: Battle Angel Alita, courtesy Pricegrabber.