As soon as Alita: Battle Angel was released in cinemas fans began clamouring for a sequel to the deeply-loved Japanese franchise. The film starred Rosa Salazar as the titular hero and was written by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Cameron based the film on the cult hit manga series Battle Angel Alita. Unfortunately, despite making $405 million at the box office, this was deemed a meagre success against the film’s $200 million budget. Now, the first sign of hope for a sequel has been given by Disney Plus.

This month Alita: Battle Angel arrived on Disney Plus.

This is the first time the film has been available online after being taken off of the NOW streaming service late last year.

Alita: Battle Angel was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, a company that was bought by Disney last year.

Since then, the film has not been available to watch online – but its arrival on Disney Plus could be the first step in the film’s next entry to the series.

READ MORE: Alita Battle Angel 2: Christoph Waltz casts doubt on sequel

With enough popularity, Disney could very well consider continuing Alita’s story.

And there is certainly enough source material to pull from for any potential sequels. The aforementioned manga, Battle Angel Alita, is a long-running series that has various storylines and offshoot adventures to use.

Director Robert Rodriguez previously revealed Cameron had already started thinking about making an Alita trilogy.

He explained Cameron made “1,000 pages of notes” for three films set in Alita’s universe.

He said: “There’s like one whole document about the trilogy.”

What do you think? Will fans see Alita: Fallen Angel soon? Join the debate in the comments section here

Waltz continued: “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.”

He went on to speculate: “You know, [the film was produced by] Fox, and Fox doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s Disney.

“Maybe [Alita 2] doesn’t fit into the Disneyfication [of 20th Century Studios].”

Waltz said: “But 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.”

Alita star Rosa Salazar is on board for any kind of sequel, however.

She said at the time: “I would play Alita ‘til my last breath. I would, and thanks to the performance capture technology, I probably could,” fans can look forward to seeing her make a return to the big screen.”

Alita Battle Angel is available on Disney Plus now.