5 Innocent Movies That Became Toxic
4. Alita: Battle Angel
Alita: Battle Angel is most famous today for being overly praised by a group of online users calling themselves the "Alita Army." They often claim it's one of the best films of all time, and have a rotation of 2-3 different gifs at the ready to respond to any cinema related question on Twitter.
How did the film become so popular among one specific group? Brie Larson, that's how. The actress, best known for her Oscar-winning performance in Room and as Captain Marvel in the MCU, famously called for more diversity in film, not just on-set but among film critics as well.
As you can imagine, Larson's comments didn't go over well with the male chauvinist crowd, who interpreted her remarks as her "hating straight white men." They proceeded to "boycott" Larson's Captain Marvel. (It made over a billion dollars so they did a spectacular job with that.)
However, in their boycott, many wanted to push another movie forward, and because it was also a female-led action movie from the same 2019 season, they picked Alita: Battle Angel. They tried to sway audiences to see this film, praising it for, among other reasons, not having a star who "hates straight white men."
Though many of the film's fans legitimately love it, some only support it out of spite towards Captain Marvel. They tried to pit one woman against another, but they failed to realize that there can be more than one female-led action film at a time, and both movies performed well at the box office.