Free 'Alita: Battle Angel' Early Screenings Are Happening This Week

How do you get a notorious social media hater likes James Cameron to join both Instagram and Facebook in one fell swoop? Get him to promote the early screenings for Alita: Battle Angel, the Avatar director's passion project helmed by Robert Rodriguez. Cameron announced the early screenings on both social media platforms, inviting fans to see the film for free two whole weeks before its theatrical release.

"Okay people, I'm finally doing it. I'm finally joining Facebook/Instagram," Cameron says in the videos promoting the free Alita: Battle Angel screenings that will be held on January 31, 2019. The two videos feature twin messages from the director, who produces Alita: Battle Angel, where he promotes the series of free early screenings that will be held on January 31 across the U.S. and Canada. Fans can get passes to the free screenings at ExperienceAlita.com, which highlights the 35 participating locations, including San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Boston, New York, Chicago, and more.

Cameron also promoted a fan Q&A that he and the cast will be participating in that night. Fans can submit questions through the hashtag #ExperienceAlita.

Alita: Battle Angel is just the latest film to attempt to build buzz through early screening promotions, following films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bumblebee and Aquaman. That word-of-mouth buzz seemed to work with those films, but it's still a gamble for Alita, which doesn't have quite a built-in audience as the aforementioned films nor the family-friendly appeal.

Robert Rodriguez directs Alita: Battle Angel based off the cyberpunk manga of the same name by Yukito Kishiro. Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson also star.

Here's the synopsis for Alita: Battle Angel:

Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens, she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.

Alita: Battle Angel opens in theaters on February 14, 2019.