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Halo film still "on track"
Author: Brett ThomasPublished: 23rd October 2006
Master Chief and company are still "on track," according to Microsoft execs, despite the pull-out of producers.
For everyone who thinks Fox and Universal might be trying to avoid another video-game to movie stinker, guess again. Fox and Universal were originally supposed to be simply distributing agents and financial backers for the film. The companies actually decided that the movie might be more successful than anticipated, and so wanted a bigger role in the production. Executive Producer Peter Jackson had little interest in the renegotiation, causing the big companies to pull their financial backing.
Microsoft and Bungie were completely inflexible on surrendering production power, as the deal was specifically set up so that they would have nearly complete creative control over the product. The companies are now shopping for other financial backers to move forward with production.
A quote from the statement on Bungie's website:
"We are disappointed that Universal and Fox wanted to significantly renegotiate the financial points of the deal. But the Halo franchise is hugely popular and our goal remains the same - to find a partner that shares our passion and will creatively collaborate with us to best represent the story and spirit of the Halo franchise.
"Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the rest of the creative team are dedicated to ensuring the Halo movie becomes a reality."
Here's to hoping that the creative control that Microsoft and Bungie are so determined to keep prevents the film from being another over-hyped video game failure.
Got a thought on the news? Looking forward to the film? Tell us about it in our forums.
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Comments (24)
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Go Microsoft.
Err, yeah. So I'm not the only person that doesn't find it strange that Microsoft wants financial backing for the Halo film. And its not like they're a bunch of strangers to advertising either; if they can manage to sell a PC dolled up to look like a console, surely they can manage to promote a film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie_Studios
I don't think it's necessarily that they need money to make the film... I think they need a name (in the movie industry) to be able to publish the film and get it to the market...
Monkeybone
They cancelled a sequel to a piece of minor genius in order to produce possibly the most uninterestingly average thing since... since... since the first time that something was found to be about as good as a lot of other, similar things.
So now, on the authority of a lot of Xbox owners whose entire previous gaming experience involves an Italian plumber, we unblanchingly accept that Halo is anything other than completely forgettable.
Decry me if you like, but the sort of thinking that takes Sonic 3D as a serious benchmark of gaming quality is the reason why excretia like Battlefield 2142 is being lapped up by people too stupid to recognise that they're being taken for a ride, dropped off in a remote, rainy location, and abandoned there for several hours.
Or, to put it even more simply for those of us barely old enough to grip a 360 controller (and certainly not old enough to deal with a keyboard and mouse) - Halo is a very average game. There are dozens, literally dozens, of first-person shooters out there that are as good as Halo. It doesn't deserve the hyperventilating reviews; the themed casemods, or the life-sized Master Chief in Game on Oxford Street.
And it certainly doesn't deserve a movie.
-P
Oh, I don't know. I really enjoyed the first Halo. It was the first game in a long while that I actually wanted to play through to the end. It took me all of 4 days to complete but that's another matter.
I, personally, think the storylines are a bit lacking, crucify me as much as you like, but damn, it's pretty much a Half-Life. (In that HL 1 and 2 are basically the same crap, different tasks and different places. Same start, same middle, same end.) Halo has, so far, been the most entertaining thing that is 4 player that my friends and I can drunkenly operate, for that reason, I'll probably buy the third and see the movie, one way or another.
The same can be said for pretty much every game.
Halo was not revolutionary or anything special or different at all. And it dosent need or deserve a movie, just look at the doom movie.
Having said that, we played Halo 2 for about 6 hours (and then me for another 6-8 hours alone) and never went back to it..
And I do not think (however i have no evidence) that Microsoft has one big bank account that they pull money out of for whatever they need. It IS a business, and people dont seem to look at it that way. There are different departments, and entire departments dedicated to budgeting.
Personally, I dont care for this movie. I'm not saying I dont want to see it, nor am I saying I am. I'm just not too interested. I also never owned an xbox, and only played Halo multiplayer at a friends house, so I dont know the story and whatnot.