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.
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?
