The Halo movie project came to a slow grinding halt over the course of 2009. The idea of bringing the Halo franchise to the cinema screens had been in motion since 2005, when Microsoft sunk US$1 million into a script deal with writer Alex Garland and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
CAA shopped around for interested movie studios and eventually Universal and Fox signed a joint production and distribution deal, which initially pegged the film for a 2008 release. Things were looking good in 2005, with Peter Jackson soon confirmed to be an executive producer on the title, and South Africa’s own Neill Blomkamp (District 9) at the directorial helm.
As things progressed, studio politics between Universal and Fox, and the hired production team, saw pre-production costs spiraling up to US$12 million and beyond by October 2006. Fox and Universal argued over who was going to foot the bill, resulting in Jackson and Blomkamp pulling out of the deal.
Over the following years, Halo 3, Halo: ODST, and Halo: Reach made their way to market. Despite mutterings over the years to the tune that the Halo movie would be resurrected, essentially, the Universal/Fox attempt at bringing the franchise to life on the silver screen was dead in the water.
Spielberg first indicated his interest in a possible Halo movie in August 2009, but nothing official had transpired between Spielberg’s DreamWorks and Microsoft. After the previous debacle, Microsoft is probably (understandably) cautious about damaging their billion dollar gaming franchise, a cornerstone for their Xbox library of games.
Now, according to a report by NY Mag, DreamWorks is more determined than ever to snag the production rights to a Halo movie. The DreamWorks attempt will reportedly focus of adapting novelizations of the Halo universe, steering clear of the game’s plot.
The Halo novels might have been great easy-reading page turners, but they are hardly literary masterpieces. The theory goes, that in order to sidestep possible legal issues surrounding the original Universal/Fox production attempt, which was based on the games in the series, DreamWorks is making it clear that their Halo movie will be based on the Halo novels.
Even if the production results in an entirely unique script, they will at least have the fall-back of saying it was inspired by the novels to prevent Universal/Fox from trying to lay claim to the movie in any way.
Still, DreamWorks has to get Microsoft onboard, and who knows how difficult a task that will be, but there is hope yet for a Halo movie.
For an in-depth review of the Halo movie saga, one should check out the source NY Mag article.
Discuss the potential Halo movie on the MyGaming forum.
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