Halo to hit Silver Screen

Master Chief to Star

from Stardock Forums
Variety has reported that the Halo movie script has finally begun to make its rounds, delivered by couriers dressed as Master Chief. The Xbox/PC game has a drove of followers, with the series selling over 13 million copies and keeping the Xbox afloat during its early hard times.

According to Variety the script was written by Alex Garland, The Beach & 28 Days Later, and he was paid $1 million for his creativity. Variety also claims that Microsoft has made some pretty lofty demands regarding the movie including whatever is higher, $10 million or 15 percent of the film's gross. On top of that Microsoft is requiring a $75 million "below the line" budget, which simply means that the studio would have to invest that much before hiring actors and the director.

Microsoft also has a rule set about editing the script, demanding that Bungie's "bible" on Halo must be followed so that "any changes to the script don't alter the universe established in the first two Halo games that will continue in future sequels." The bids are to come in "as soon as late Monday," which doesn't give many studios' time, just another reason for Hollywood to balk at this opportunity.

Source: Variety Article
343 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Those are some...shall we say, careful, demands Microsoft has placed?  By requiring $75 million before actors/director, they're essentially requiring the movie to have excellent special effects, costumes, etc. (which makes sense). At the same time, by requiring $10 million minimum ROI, they're creating a safenet in case the movie tanks regardless (as so many game movies do). I kinda dig the approach...lol.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Its nice to see them take pride in the game -> movie transition unlike so many other companies who just sell off the name (House of the Dead being the worst of those) but these demands are apparently a little much for most studios to cope with (everyone is being to greedy...). At least the first Resident Evil was enjoyable.
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
True, especially since game-movies have been largely hit or miss, it's a lot to demand of a studio up-front.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
At any rate a game like Halo has a much larger fan base (by sales) than Tomb Raider (less jiggle factors) or Resident Evil so I would assume more people would go see it, even though so many were disappointed with the GAME'S story.