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'Halo' Movie Still Happening?

By: Erik Davis on September 8, 2010 at 2:50PM Comments (33)

A couple of years back, Peter Jackson and then-newcomer Neill Blomkamp (District 9) were going to partner up on a big-screen Halo movie. Microsoft, however, got cold feet (partly because Blomkamp was too new at the time and hadn't proven himself yet), and so the big-budgeted affair was shelved for the time being. After all, video game movies don't seem to have the greatest success rate.

Halo

With the Resident Evil movies still chugging along – proving there is value in video game movies if done right -- Microsoft definitely sees potential in a feature-length Halo movie, especially since the property has made $2 billion since the first Halo game was released back in 2001. In an article about the game's success, Variety notes that a feature film is still in Microsoft's sights, so much so that they're currently developing scripts with a number of big-screen writers.
 
Frank O'Connor, who oversees Halo for Microsoft, says they're still "interested in making an excellent Halo movie", and that they've "created an awful lot of documentation and materials to support a feature film. We have a good idea of what kind of story we want to tell, but won't move on it until there's a great reason to do it. We're in no particular hurry." He also stressed that any film would most likely be a standalone story and not one that tries to re-tell the story found in the games.

Do you think they should make a Halo movie? They already have the games, the graphic novels, the toys, the anime series and who knows what else – so do they really need a movie? And if it doesn't do well, could that hurt the franchise?

 

Comments (33)Leave a Comment

  • Sep 8th 2010 4:01PM

    bradpolky  said...

    I think The Halo movie would be great. I think the Peter Jackson team is the best choice to write and produce and Neill Blomkamp is the best choice for director

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  • Sep 8th 2010 4:17PM

    alaskaman79  said...

    I think that as long as its live action like the Resident Evil series, rather than animated like the Final Fantasy movie it should do quite well. It might even serve to bolter the sales of the Halo video games.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 11:27AM

    bmovie23  said...

    I have to agree with the whole boltering the sales of the Halo video games

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  • Sep 8th 2010 5:16PM

     said...

    As long as it could be canon to the storyline. The Resident Evil movies totally fucked up their world with that introductin of "Alice'. When that movie first came out I thought "Who the ***&^ is this *****?" I don't want some random Spartan who wasn't in any of the books, video games, or other media to come out of nowhere and kick ass. They should just do a movie on some ODST's or something. That'd be cool.

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  • Sep 13th 2010 1:19AM

     said...

    They wouldn't do that because the main selling point of Halo is the Spartans, not the ODST's. They could certainly do plenty of stuff with Spartans. Its supposed to be a long-assed war, they can introduce a lot of characters and plot-lines without ******* up continuity. But, they'd have to avoid the flood altogether, otherwise not gamers will be completely lost (which is a shame, because dramatically, the introduction of the Flood in Halo CE was intense, unexpected, and totally defined the game and the entire series) Also dealing with non-Halo players. If you don't devote at least part of the story to an actual Halo ring, they are gonna be lost as to why the film is called Halo.

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  • Sep 8th 2010 5:40PM

     said...

    i think they have the recources to make the movie (i mean look at the live action trailers for halo odst or halo reach) of this magatude however i dont think it should be a stand alone movie that will only tarnish its name if your doing to do a movie about a series it should be about the series not a bunch of what if's.

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  • Sep 8th 2010 6:00PM

    Javajive  said...

    I wouldn't mind seeing this new character HALO hit the big screen: I've seen video games of this Action Hero throughtout retail Mall Game stores and have been curious ever since. So yeah make a movie Director Peter Jackson and District 9 Neill Blomkamp. All the best!

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  • Sep 8th 2010 10:14PM

    asojax  said...

    I think the only way a Halo Movie would work is if bungie and Microsoft were fully behind it and believed in the product, Not so much as how much money can we get out of this. If they bring in the right people who have a passion to tell a story that would do halo justice I think they could have an amazing film but most likely they won't, it's gonna be crap that is put out to make money and nothing else.

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  • Sep 19th 2010 2:16PM

     said...

    rumor is that bungie is behind it as long as they stick to the so called "halo bible" that they developed as guidlines for the script, they know they wont have the final say in things because microsoft bought the rights to the halo franchise, but as long as they keep it close, it should have bungies blessings, support, and hopefully their help in developing what could possibly be the greatest movie of all time, if done right. God knows that peter jackson would be a terrific director for this endeavor, but i'd honestly like to seem a team intellect on this one, maybe james cameron as well? But thats just my opinion.

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  • Sep 8th 2010 11:41PM

    Kilbaneisking  said...

    I am a little hesitant about a Halo movie simply because most game movies are not good. I am however a huge fan of the Resident Evil series. so if they maybe took a different narrative approach then the games stories do it may be good. As far as who should make it. I loved Distrcit 9 so Jackson n Blompkamp works for me. they already had a script if i recall correctly and were all set to go when Microsoft backed out so they should get another chance.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 12:34AM

    meowbacca  said...

    yes!

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  • Sep 9th 2010 12:43AM

    ThatGuyThatLovesMovies  said...

    Halo is about an overpowered spartan that can take names and kick everybody's collective asses. That is great in a video game, but it sucks balls for character development in a movie. What going to have to happen is they are gonna have to fudge away from cannon, then all the geek fans, you know who you are, are going to ***** and moan about how it's not cannon, or off story wise. This will inevitably make the movie flop, and stain a good director and producers name. I say just throw it out, and leave it in the video game realm.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 4:52AM

    glo1967  said...

    well the already wasted the budget for that movie making another stupid movie a.k.a. district 9

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  • Sep 9th 2010 2:53PM

    chall731  said...

    whoa hold up. District 9 was not a stupid movie. It was awesome. Plus, the budget for that movie was around 30 million while the budget for a Halo movie would've been 200 million.

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  • Sep 10th 2010 2:01PM

    vnstrel  said...

    i would have to disagree with you. i thought it was one of the best movies of the year.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 5:42AM

    majikr80  said...

    i think a halo movie is a grat idea .i would love to see it on the big screen and then on blueray . i would like to see how the spartans came about and then how the war started and u could even do a few movies even if they did a prequel of master cheif then bring him into the war where they first game picks up and then see how it goes if all goes well then make some more movies that continues the story

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  • Sep 9th 2010 10:52AM

    bmovie23  said...

    I think a Halo movie would be fanastic. My son loves all of the Halo games and can't wait till Halo Reach comes out on the 14th. I have to agree with alaskaman79 he is absolutely right, a movie would definitely help boost the sales of the games, especially if it had come out this past summer, right before the release of Halo Reach. Halo Legends had several stories, so if maybe put all of that together into one feature length movie in either a CGI format or something to that effect, the movie will come out great. District 9 was a fanastic movie, so I'm sure if it's Neill Blomkamp directing, the movie will come out just as good if not better than District 9.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 1:28PM

     said...

    I say they should forget the Halo movie and make a Call of Duty movie. that would be awesome

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  • Sep 10th 2010 2:02PM

    vnstrel  said...

    ur an idiot there isnt even a main plot to the movie. they should also make a midnight club movie then.

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  • Sep 10th 2010 2:03PM

    vnstrel  said...

    ur an idiot there isnt even a main plot to the movie. they should also make a midnight club movie then.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 1:50PM

     said...

    If they were to make a movie i think one that revolves around the creation of the spartans but focusing on master chief. I think that's the first book.... maybe second, been a while since they were read.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 3:06PM

    kayura  said...

    Stand alone stories never work. They should tell the story that the game and books have already detailed. It's a great story. The biggest mistake that game movies make (Final Fantasy Spirits Within) is making a stand alone film. There is no reason to see a sequel that doesn't mean anything. Even if they made a movie of the campaign mode, and did it all in CGI, it would still be successful, and people would still go see sequel after sequel.

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  • Sep 9th 2010 3:23PM

    herreraid  said...

    I agree, the only HALO movie I would want to see is the original story from the game and who cares about making it like Resident Evil, only the first one was good anyway. The HALO story should be made virtual like in the games, no need to waste $200M on actors and real stuff. The HALO cinema in the games is awesome enough to kick some movie tail in theaters. master Chief should always be the bad to the bone dude!

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  • Sep 9th 2010 3:51PM

    CircaSurvivor  said...

    I've read the book series (great btw), and think that if they followed the books' plots they have enough good material for a few movies. I was really excited when they released info for the new game Halo: Reach, but was bummed when I found out its not really based on the first book in the series Halo: The Fall of Reach If they keep the original Spartan and follow his story there's a golden series in the making, but I agree if they just come up with some random charactor I'll be pissed! Peter Jackson is a genius so he'd be great and I would love the gritty feel of District 9 in the Halo movie(s). Also I was slightly disappointed by Halo: Legends (Halo's version of Animatrix) only about half of the shorts were any good.

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  • Sep 10th 2010 1:03AM

    halo_fan117  said...

    What would make the "HALO MOVIE" and franchise even better would be for the movie to have a conspiracy background and hard hitting action story.They should start off with a story about Master Chief and Cortana's background on how their story began and then into a on going battle and get into the somewhat conspiracy story about the ring (halo) and the secrets behind it and end it with a big all out battle while getting some answers to the secrets and having sad moments like losing some character's from the game but not Master Chief or Cortana..then just after they find out the biggest secret something happens to Master Chief and end the movie to leave the viewers in suspense and make a sequel where Cortana narrates like she does in the games

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