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Fox and Universal have closed their deal to make a movie based on Microsoft's hit video game Halo, with plans to release it in 2007, Variety reported. Universal will oversee the production and is handling domestic distribution, while Fox will take foreign distribution. The studios will split revenues 50-50 out of a shared pot, the trade paper reported. Former Columbia president Peter Schlessel, who served as a Hollywood liaison for Microsoft, is producing. 28 Days Later writer Alex Garland was paid $1 million by Microsoft to write a script that met its approval. He'll now do a rewrite with studio notes, after which Universal will go out to directors. Microsoft is guaranteed extensive consultation on the project, but won't have approval over any elements. Several employees at Bungie, the Microsoft-owned development studio that created Halo, will serve as Microsoft's creative consultants. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM |
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| Halo game set for silver screen A film version of popular video game Halo is being made by two Hollywood studios, its developers have confirmed. Universal and Fox studios are making the film, while British novelist Alex Garland has written the script. The film will focus on Master Chief, the hero of Microsoft's Xbox version of the game, who fights to save mankind from an alien race. It is due for release in summer 2007, although the issue date of a new version of Halo has not been announced. Spawned sequel Bungie, the Microsoft-owned venture which developed the game, said they had "worked out all the kinks" with the Hollywood studios and were ready to start w**k on the project. Garland, best known for his novel The Beach, said that his impression of playing Halo "was often of being in a movie". A director for the film is likely to be chosen in the next month. Bungie have said they are looking for "someone who's as committed to the Halo universe as Peter Jackson was to Tolkien's Middle-Earth". The Halo game, which was released in 2001, has sold in excess of five million copies around the world and spawned a sequel, which came out last year. Story from BBC NEWS: |
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| Jackson Rises To Halo Peter Jackson, who directed of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming remake of King Kong, will serve as executive producer of the upcoming film based on Microsoft's blockbuster Halo video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jackson's wife and partner Fran Walsh, who served as writer and producer on his previous films, will co-executive-produce under the team's WingNut films banner. Jackson's New Zealand-based Weta companies will also provide creatures, miniatures and visual effects for the production. Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox, the companies behind the project, hope to be in production in the spring with an eye toward a summer 2007 release, the trade paper reported. Prior to Jackson's involvement, Microsoft hired Alex Garland (28 Days Later) to write the screenplay and will have its own consultants on the production, along with the game's developer, Bungie Studios. An announcement about the film's director is expected soon. "As a gaming fan, I'm excited to bring Halo's premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today's technology can provide," Jackson said. "Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we're delighted to be w**king again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. I'm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen." The movie will be shot entirely in the New Zealand capital of Wellington, with a budget of more than $100 million, the trade paper reported. Universal Pictures will handle domestic distribution and Fox will distribute internationally. Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which owns SCIFI.com. |