Halo movie inactive due to Microsoft greed

Over the last couple years, The Halo movie project has had more ups and downs than an adolescent Halo player doing a victory dance over his defeated enemy’s corpse. It seems to have all the ingredients for a great movie, but why is it not happening?

Of all the companies, Microsoft is the one to blame. The film project, which once had Peter Jackson attached to it, is pretty much canned thanks to Microsoft’s excessive profit demands and aggressive attitude.

An excerpt from Jamie Russell’s book Generation Xbox: how video games invaded Hollywood explains that Microsoft wanted “the richest, most lucrative rights deal in history” as they reportedly asked for a “$10 million against 15% of the box office gross, in addition to a $75 million ‘below-the-line’ budget and fast-tracked production”.

The costs of Microsoft taking such a hefty profit, along with the costs of Peter Jackson as producer, studio costs of Fox and Universal who tied-together for the project, ultimately killed the project, said our very own Neill Blomkamp (District 9), who was on-board to direct.

So as it stands, there is no progress on a live-action Halo adaptation, as Creative Artists Agency’s Larry Shapiro said: “Microsoft’s unwillingness to reduce their deal killed the deal… That movie could’ve been Avatar”.

Here’s the closest thing to a Halo movie you’re going to get for now: