Halo film postponed

By Tom Bramwell Published 31 October, 2006

But it will be back, apparently.

The Halo film has been postponed, Wingnut Films has admitted, following a number of setbacks including Universal and Fox's decision to ditch their interest in the adaptation over money issues.

"At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfil the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen," Wingnut Films said in a statement released last night.

"We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp's vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait," it concluded.

Last week, Universal and Fox pulled out of a deal to fund and distribute the film, which had already been delayed several times, having seen their demands for an improved deal refused by the executive producers.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Sorb #1 5 years ago

    Or Bungie Feature Film Animation? :)

  • Yossarian #2 5 years ago

    :(

  • AcidSnake #3 5 years ago

    They should bury the whole idea IMO...
    Stick to what you're good at...
    Bungie should stick to games, and Peter Jackson...well...He could stand around swimming pools fishing the leaves out...
    Anything to keep him away from the camera...

  • skillian #4 5 years ago

    LOL.

    Muchos predictable.

  • Talha #5 5 years ago

    Why don't get Pixar to do an animated feature? That would be better fitting to a videogame than a live-action one.

  • Tomo #6 5 years ago

    Shame really.

  • killyourtv #7 5 years ago

    haha

  • Mashum #8 5 years ago

    A CGI version would be nice, I can't see anyone touching that though not since Final Fantasy.

  • Tiger_Walts #9 5 years ago

    They should just get the RvB guys to make it.

  • S.J.Rogers #10 5 years ago

    @ Talha: Agreed..!

    Pixar would do a fantastic job as all there films have been first rate. (Apart from Cars... Err)

    Must not be a kids film though...
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/06 @ 11:31

  • Super_Zee #11 5 years ago

    @ Tiger_Walts

    Absolutely! I'd pay cold hard cash to see Church and Caboose kicking ass with the Chief...

  • ostrasized #12 5 years ago

    Ooh, yeah - I can't wait for an hour and a half of a man in a crash helmet nodding as people talk at him.

  • Shadar #13 5 years ago

    I wonder why Microsoft and Bungie can't simply finance this through Wingnut Films. I suppose there are all kinds of problems with the film guilds in Hollywood, but people have circumvented them before. Like Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City ... it cost him a few Oscar nominations and he was kicked out of the Director's Guild of America, but he was allowed to distribute the film even though he filmed, adapted, directed and edited the movie by himself.

    I think there's something more sinister behind this. They could go into full production in New Zealand whenever the preliminary work is done and fight over distribution rights later. Why aren't they?
    Edited by 1 at 31/10/06 @ 12:17

  • skillian #14 5 years ago

    Money?

    Its very risky to spend all that cash on filming and production without a distribution deal, especially for a game movie which traditionally tank at the box office.

  • Kostabi #15 5 years ago

    "Why don't get Pixar to do an animated feature? That would be better fitting to a videogame than a live-action one."

    Pixar is a Disney and Apple lovechild these days, I doubt Microsoft would be overly thrilled with the Halo film lining Steve Jobs' pockets.

    You're right though, Pixar is the best studio for the job.

  • JediMasterMalik #16 5 years ago

    And if they did that it would be coming out on Blu-ray. :D

  • Grunk #17 5 years ago

    why don't they get Halo fans to pay for it and in return for £30 send them a free copy of halo3?

  • lefizz #18 5 years ago

    I think the main issue will be distibution not money

  • Feanor #19 5 years ago

    And AcidSnake should do anything but post comments on EG articles. You're terrible at it.

  • AcidSnake #20 5 years ago

    I respect your opinion...

  • Vin #21 5 years ago

    It's all good - start the hype again around the Halo 3 release and with the pre production in the bag, it should all be sound. There IS a method to their madness, y'know.

  • Xerx3s #22 5 years ago

    "At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfil the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen,"
    Yay, it will never appear! Rejoice! \0/

  • dudefella #23 5 years ago

    Translation: Indefinitely postponed, will probably never see the light of day.

    This is the first VG movie that actually sounded at least somewhat promising, so it's a shame. If they screwed it up I wouldn't have cared much anyway since I'm no Halo fan.

  • captainrentboy #24 5 years ago

    Bar Halo fans and a few geeks out there who exactly would this film appeal to?Hasn't nearly every game-film adaptation ever made been a gigantic flop,critically mauled worldwide?It would have more than likely been the same for a Halo flick,like Silent Hill I'd imagine a lot of love and respect for the original source would've gone into it,but only the diehard fans would have an idea about what the fuck was going on.

  • Steroyd #25 5 years ago

    uh huh keep it to close to the game the fans will be satisfied and everyone else not familiar with Halo scratching their heads, Noobify it for the universal audience it turns out even more shit.

    No Director has got the balance right and I doubt they ever will.

  • borkey #26 5 years ago

    Ahh no worries, eventually Uwe Boll will pick up the rights!

  • Paukl #27 4 years ago

    Made you look!