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'No plans' for a Halo movie, says Microsoft
Spartans never die, readers; they're just Missing In Action. Likewise, it seems that rumors of a movie based on the Halo series also will not die. This newest wave of rumors traces back to a since-deleted tweet from Production Weekly which, according to GamesIndustry International, stated, "The Halo project is a live-action feature-length digital produced by Ridley Scott." It wasn't long before Microsoft put an end to the speculation, however. In a statement to Eurogamer, Microsoft said there were "no plans for a Halo motion picture at this time." This makes sense: getting a Halo movie off the ground has a long and troubled history, and Microsoft has already announced plans to create a Halo-branded television show with the assistance of Steven Spielberg. Pitching audiences on a television show, a movie and an upcoming game would be a lot of plasma grenades to juggle.
O'Connor: Halo movie will happen 'when the time is right'
During last week's MI6 conference, Bungie alum (now 343 Industries head) Frank O'Connor spoke candidly about the possibility of a Halo movie now that relations between Peter Jackson / Neill Blomkamp and Microsoft have fallen apart (as reported by IGN). "We're going to make a movie when the time is right," O'Connor told attendees of a session he was part of, titled "Extending Your Game Beyond the Package." He continued, frankly stating "We own the IP." Being head of Microsoft's Halo product house (that includes everything from Master Chief plushies, to the development of games after Halo: Reach, to a possible film) though, O'Connor worries about the implications of a film on the franchise. "If we want to make a movie, the scale of all the other stuff that we do changes dramatically. We make tens of millions of dollars on ancillary stuff, toys, apparel, music and publishing. If we do a movie all of that will grow exponentially." So while that's not exactly confirmation of a movie adaptation for the Chief at some point in the future, the possibility of exponentially growing an already multi-million dollar business sounds like a pretty good excuse to us for doing one.
April Fools: Halo film finishes the fight for love
Of all the April Fools jokes created for today, IGN may have just unleashed the best. It's the missing trailer for the once-was-gonna-happen Halo film. We don't want to ruin it for you, but let's just say that Master Chief is uniquely able to straddle the line between being a fighter and a lover. Where else did you think all of that Spartan research money went? Anyway, hit up the Man Cannon and fly past the break to finally see the face of Master Chief!
Rumor: Spielberg looking to produce Halo movie
The Halo movie may be dead to Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson, but it's apparently not dead dead, as IESB reports Spielberg is in negotiations to produce the feature film. Spielberg only had to read Stuart Beattie's script before wanting to tackle the project, IESB claims, which focuses on The Fall of Reach, the prequel to the original Halo game written by Eric Nylund. This likely comes as either bad news or good news, depending on your feelings toward Spielberg these days. Some enjoyed his recent Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, while others still remember those stupid walkie-talkies. [Via Eurogamer]
Neill Blomkamp put 5 months into canceled Halo film
Speaking to MTV, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp discussed his role in the ill-fated Halo film before it was unceremoniously canned. According to Blomkamp, he poured five months into the movie. He says he worked on the film "24 hours a day," adding that he feels that the "the whole [Halo] universe is incredibly compelling." Still, he reiterates his belief that he probably wouldn't return to Halo, saying, "When you spend five months working on something like that, and then you just get the rug pulled out from underneath you, it's not easy to kind of go back to that."While he says that he loves the creative part of the process, and adds that District 9 "got born" out of the ordeal, it would be "difficult" to return to Halo. "I wish I could," says Blomkamp, "but I'm not sure that I would be able to."
Blomkamp: 'I probably wouldn't do Halo if it was offered to me'
In case the news – straight out of Peter Jackson's mouth to your earholes – that the episodic Halo Chronicles project was "no longer happening" wasn't enough to confirm the wreckage of Microsoft's (impossibly?) ambitious plan, here comes word from the other half of the Halo movie project, Neill Blomkamp, who tells Slashfilm, "I probably wouldn't do Halo if it was offered to me."It's not that Mr. Blomkamp has had a change of heart when it comes to the subject matter – "Creatively, it's very compelling. I love it," he says – but having poured "a lot of ... sweat and blood into Halo" only to have it "bottom out and collapse" is sure to leave one jaded. On the other hand, the collapse of the Halo project paved the way for District 9 – the feature adaptation of his short film "Alive in Joburg" – which the South African-born director calls "more of a personal film." (More personal than a story about cyborg super soldiers on a ring-shaped planet?) For what it's worth, most video game adaptations haven't been stellar, and if early buzz on District 9 is to be believed, Blomkamp may have lucked out.Oh, by the way, now's your big chance, Stuart Beattie!
Peter Jackson tells Joystiq about the Halo movie, video game project
We caught up with Peter Jackson himself last night, after a screening of District 9 – the feature-length debut of director Neill Blomkamp who had previously been attached to helm the Halo movie that fizzled out. Jackson explained that they felt like they had an amazing director in Blomkamp and they didn't want to lose the opportunity to work with him so, instead of bringing Halo to the big screen, they created an entire film based on his Alive in Joburg short. (See the rest of Blomkamp's work here, in our roundup). District 9 – which Jackson produced and is coming to theaters on August 14 – is seriously amazing. There's a wide array of alien weapons that would make Ratchet & Clank jealous, CGI aliens that look better than Avatar, walking mech suits, and a really amazing performance from lead actor Sharlto Copley. Clear your calendars and make plans to see this one. But back to the Halo movie that never was: After the screening, we got to sit down with Jackson to ask him about just that. Read on to find out where the Halo movies stands, and if we'll ever see the long-rumored Halo Chronicles video game project.
G.I. Joe movie scribe talks up Halo adaptation
Remember Stuart Beattie, the guy who wrote the first Pirates of the Caribbean film and made some waves with a new Halo adaptation -- based on The Fall of Reach -- including concept art? Now Beattie is making the rounds to promote his latest screenplay, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, and has put his Halo script back in the news, telling Sci Fi Wire of his efforts to get the movie into production. Beattie has been shopping his screenplay around Hollywood, and has sent copies to both Microsoft and 20th Century Fox, which was to develop Peter Jackson's Halo film before it was put on indefinite hold.Beattie seems passionate about the project -- he claims to have read all the Halo books and played all the games -- though he says he's not ready to actually direct the project, at least not yet. "Maybe in a few years," he says, noting that if his next film, Tomorrow, When the War Began, is successful, he might get the chance to direct the Halo movie. He does note, however, that he'd be happy to see anyone direct the film and doesn't want to "stand in the way of it getting made."Beattie believes that there haven't been any great video game adaptations thus far because those involved with them haven't been passionate about games. A fine sentiment, sure, but let's not forget that the Silent Hill film was supposedly a labor of love for both the writer and director, and we all know how that turned out. Still, we hope Beattie's script gets some attention. After all, if he can successfully adapt a theme park ride, we're sure he can handle a video game.
Rumor: More concept art from 'revived' Halo movie
You may recall that, a little over than a week ago, some purported concept art for a Halo movie based on Eric Nylund's Halo: Fall of Reach novel surfaced on the web. If you don't, here's a convenient link back through time. Pretty nifty, huh?So it's going on 10 days later and a new, less "Spartans in Spaaaaace!" piece of art has sprung up, appearing to depict our finest future-soldiers in training. Make with the clicking on the image above or Source link below for a larger version ... and keep hope alive that the fight for a Halo film is eventually finished.[Thanks, tbone!]
Rumor: Concept art from Halo: Fall of Reach movie
So there was talk about Stuart Beattie – you may know him better as that guy adapting Gears of War for the big screen – giving the stalled Halo movie some much needed TLC in the form of a new script based on Eric Nylund's novel Halo: Fall of Reach. The original source of that rumor now claims to have five pieces of concept art from the new script, which are all part of "an eventual presentation" to be given to the fat cats at Microsoft. Here's where you come in: they'll be dropping one a week on y'all for the next five weeks.We've got some concept art for a Halo movie right here: it's called Halo 3 and it's a whole DVD full of aliens, 'splosions, and Master Chiefs. But if you've just got to see a larger version of the above concept art, we won't stop you from clicking that Source link below.[Via MEGATONik]
Rumor: Halo movie has a new script
Last we heard, the big-budget, big screen adaptation of Halo was undeniably and reliably dead. But if a Latino Review source is to be believed, it may have another shot, thanks to a fresh script by Stuart Beattie, the same fellow working on Spy Hunter, Splinter Cell and Gears of War flicks for several studios. It's reportedly called Halo: Fall of Reach, based on the novel of the same name.Now, even if this story is true, this is just a guy writing a script (albeit a well-known guy), so we're not about to change the film's status to "mostly dead." But if you need to do that in your heart to make your day a bit easier to bear, we completely understand.
Master Chief would have had supporting role in Halo movie
Though the many deaths of a Halo-based film were pretty hard for us to swallow, there have been several events since that have helped to cushion the blow. First were director Neil Blomkamp's live-action short films which were, frankly, not particularly Halo-esque. Now, courtesy of Level Up, we learn that Master Chief would have played a supporting role in the story, driving the film right past Relevantville and into Pointless Gorge.So we don't put words in Bungie's Joseph Staten's mouth, we'll give it to you straight from him. "Over time," he said, "I think everybody around the table agreed that the Master Chief is best left as the most important supporting cast member." The thing is, when you read his full response, you realize he's kind of got a point. We're still not sure if that means we want a Halo movie with the Chief as the wacky neighbor, or if we want the film to just stay dead. What do you think?
Master Chief: A supporting role in Halo movie
Talking with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal, Joseph Staten (Halo writer to the stars) uncharacteristically opened up about the now stalled Halo movie and talked about how Master Chief was set to be a ... supporting character? Twah?N'Gai Croal bluntly asked Staten if there where issues with Master Chief wearing a helmet in the movie and how it would affect the emotional connection between viewer and our Chief. Staten agreed that the mystery surrounding Master Chief posed problems in translating the story to film and confirmed that in the final Halo movie script, Master Chief was to be "the most important supporting cast member". Bungie didn't feel that Chief could be the main character of a movie due to his emotional restrictions and because it would put limitations on the story they wanted to tell. Though, Staten did mention that Master Chief would be "absolutely critical to the film" in moving the story along and would be a perfect "anonymous problem solver" for the film. Just all the focus wouldn't be put on him.So fanboys, what do you think? We fully understand that the Halo movie probably won't see the light of day for years and years to come, but we are torn apart by the fact that Master Chief wouldn't be the main character. Would you rather see a shoot-em-up, Master Chief focused explosion fest-o-fun or a more character focused story that is geared towards the Halo universe rather than the Chief himself? Discuss.
Halo 3: Landfall - all three Blomkamp shorts cut together
Halo 3: Landfall, a combination of Neill Blomkamp's three previously-released live-action short videos depicting the events following Halo 2, has now been released online; it is also available through Xbox Live. One thing we noticed as the film progresses is the improved quality between each of the three shorts. Of course, the next logical thought would be what Blomkamp could do with another Halo video, or perhaps even a film. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. [Via X3F]
Old Halo movie script possibly leaked
An avid torrent searcher, 1UP visitor and super tipster stumbled upon and sent the 1UP editors a 127 page PDF file that is supposed to be Alex Garland's Halo movie script. If you don't remember, Alex Garland was initially hired to pen the Halo movie script in which author DB Weiss picked up and revised which ultimately landed in the deep, dark void that is Hollywood's "put on hold" script closet. Anyhoo, 1UP posted a few pages from the alleged Halo script in which Master Chief is introduced, his armor is talked about and we get to see the Flood. So, go ahead and make the jump on over to their site if you're curious. And let it be known that these script pages could be real and could possibly end up in a future Halo movie someday, so we'll slap a SPOILER WARNING! label on this just to keep civility. Enjoy ...[Via Joystiq]
Peter Jackson: no Blomkamp, no Halo movie
The Halo movie has been through its share of ups and downs. Fans will recall that Universal and FOX backed out of the picture some time ago. Speaking to Stuff.co.nz, Peter Jackson, previously brought on as producer of the film, said that he expects Universal and FOX to show renewed interest in the film after the release of Halo 3. Given the game's staggering pre-order numbers, he might be right. Also noteworthy, Jackson states that he won't produce the film without Neill Blomkamp, whom Jackson chose based on his short film work.What do you think, fanboys? Has Halo missed its chance at Hollywood success, or will Halo 3 spark a renewed interest?[Via Joystiq]
Halo movie post-pwned by Microsoft and Jackson
The Halo movie: It was on, then delayed, then off, then on again, and now off ... but just a little bit. After Fox and Universal pulled funding from the project -- citing the inexperience of rookie film, but veteran commercial, director Neill Blomkamp -- Microsoft and Jackson expressed optimism that the project would continue despite the headshot. Evidently, that optimism has been tempered because production of the Halo movie has been postponed effective immediately. Here's the official statement making the rounds this morning:"As was previously confirmed, we deeply regret that both Universal and Fox did not choose to move forward with financing the Halo film under the original terms of the agreement. At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen. We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp's vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait."Are you wondering what sort of filmmaker -- one with no previous features under his belt, no less a property the size of Halo -- would inspire that sort of confidence? You can scrutinize his curriculum vitae (we're sure that's what Fox and Universal did) and see if you can empathize with their decision. If Blomkamp is still in, we're not sure what factors will need to change to allow the production to "fulfill the promise ... made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world." Is this a waiting game? Sit pretty until some big money rolls in and shores up that budget? Y'know, we hear Microsoft is pretty wealthy.[Thanks, everyone!]
Halo movie officially postponed
Sad news today for Halo fanatics, the movie has been officially postponed. The postponement stems from Fox and Universal recently pulling out of the project. It's worth noting that the production team is still fully behind first time feature director, Neill Blomkamp. Here is the official statement:"As was previously confirmed, we deeply regret that both Universal and Fox did not choose to move forward with financing the Halo film under the original terms of the agreement. At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen. We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp's vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait."Whether or not you believe it when corporations say that they're "doing it for the fans," it's heartening to note that the movie is not canceled (though AICN isn't so sure). Then again, oftentimes, movies that take forever to develop eventually fall flat (D&D, anyone?). At any rate, we'd speculate that you won't see any Halo movie before 2008. But hey, at least they're finally rolling out new info about Halo 3, right?[Thanks, Paul]
Leaked H3 info is just the beginning
In Friday's Bungie Weekly Update, Frankie speaks briefly about the Halo 3 magazine scans that were leaked last week. For one, EGM has images that weren't leaked via the Swedish magazine, Level. Not only that but the folks at Bungie have one or two more Halo related surprises before the year is over. What these surprises could be is anyone's guess. We'd say that it will be a new trailer at best, and a demo at most impossiblest (not a real work). In other Bungie news, Halo 3 matchmaking tests are going swimmingly and the Halo movie continues apace, despite recent setbacks.Anyone care to hazard a guess about what Halo 3 info will be revealed before New Year's?
Jackson talks about Halo film
Over at Ain't It Cool News, there's a lengthy interview with Peter Jackson, covering the director, script and visual effects for the upcoming Halo movie. Jackson's enthusiasm shines through, and it's clear he's aiming at something better than your average "video game movie": It is original and new and has not been seen before on the screen. It's not Ridley Scott, it's not James Cameron, it's not what we've seen before, but it's something new and fresh and it's cool.The interviewer suggests the concept of an "adult" Halo movie; fortunately, there's an older interview with director Neill Blomkamp to take your mind off the thought.[Thanks, WebPimp]
