James Cameron plans to direct a film adaptation of the Japanese manga named Battle Angel Alita, known as GUNNM in Japan.
Cameron said the film would be a live-action adaption of the first four volumes of the manga series;
"What I’m going to do is take the spine story and use elements from the first four books. So, the Motorball from books three and four, and parts of the story of one and two will all be in the movie". Cameron also previously stated that he was waiting until CGI technology was sufficiently advanced to make a live-action Alita film with effects comparable to Avatar.
Cameron's producer Jon Landau said “I am sure you will get to see Battle Angel. It is one of my favourite stories, a great story about a young woman’s journey to self-discovery. It is a film that begs the question: What does it mean to be human?' Are you human if you have a heart, a brain or a soul? I look forward to giving the audience the film.”
Cameron plans to start filming after he completed his Avatar series, and therefore the film will likely not hit screens before 2019.
Plot of the manga goes like this;
"Battle Angel Alita tells the story of Alita, an amnesiac female cyborg. Her intact head and chest are found by cybermedic expert Daisuke Ido in the local dump. Ido manages to revive her and names her Alita . The rebuilt Alita soon discovers that she remembers the legendary martial art Panzer Kunst, although she does not recall anything else. Alita uses her Panzer Kunst to first become a mercenary Hunter-Warrior, killing cyborg criminals in the Scrapyard, and then as a player in the brutal sport of Motorball. "
And here is how the Motorball looks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSCkBf24acQ