The costly James Cameron-produced sci-fi movie avoided total disaster. But it failed to invigorate what continues to be a lackluster movie year.
How do you judge the performance of a very expensive cyborg?
On one hand, Fox’s “Alita: Battle Angel,” an effects-laden, dystopian, sci-fi action movie with a bionic heroine, easily topped this weekend’s domestic box office. It exceeded most analysts’ expectations by bringing in about $27.8 million in the lead-up to Presidents’ Day.
On the other hand, that amount is modest next to the roughly $170 million it took make the movie, produced in part by James Cameron and based on a manga series by Yukito Kishiro. A digitally augmented Rosa Salazar leads a cast that also includes Christoph Waltz and Mahershala Ali.
While it was Robert Rodriguez — best known for the “Sin City” and the “Spy Kids” movies — who directed the film, Cameron’s name has been used heavily in the movie’s marketing, echoing the way Peter Jackson’s was employed to push another expensive sci-fi movie, “Mortal Engines,” in December.
