If it seems like the "Halo" movie has been kicking around Hollywood forever, well, it kind of has. Let's rewind a bit shall we?Five years ago, Columbia Pictures president Peter Schlessel first got the ball rolling on the adaptation of the hit video game when he began development of the project outside of the studio system to avoid hitting the usual snags these kind of projects run into. He got Alex Garland ("28 Days Later," "Never Let Me Go") to pen the the screenplay, earning him a $1 million check courtesy of Microsoft.
The script was then sent out to the major studios with a major price tag: $10 million against 15 percent of the grosses. It was a very tough sell but eventually Fox and Universal decided to partner on the project and split the cost -- $5 million each -- but bargained down the gross percentage to 10. Things continued to move forward with Peter Jackson and his team being brought on board to produce with Neill Blomkamp directing. However, Jackson and co. also snagged a lucrative first dollar percentage gross deal and suddenly, Fox executives were not happy at the rising cost of production versus the increasingly small piece of the pie they would be getting in return. They eventually demanded Jackson and co. cut back their deals, but predictably, they walked away from the project.
Of course, this move pissed off Universal who were already in the red having spent $12 million on the project and they took Fox to court. While things were settled out of court, the rumor is that Universal pretty much got hosed and were left holding the bag.
Despite that messy history, DreamWorks are going to take a stab at bringing the game to the big screen but instead of the actual video game for their adaptation, they will be basing their movie off the novelizations that only super dorks read. Why? For the simple reason to keep Universal lawyers from demanding from DreamWorks the $12 million they spent on development. If they try it, DreamWorks can say, "Hey, we're using different source material, it's a different movie, you're not getting a red cent."That said, Microsoft themselves may end up standing in the way of the the film anyway. They are very, very cautious about their moneymaker franchise getting fucked up in another medium. In short, it will take a hell of a lot of convincing for them to agree to get on board. But that said, if DreamWorks is willing to spend the money, and can get the right key talent involved, we can see them convincing Microsoft to come aboard for what will ultimately be the best commercial for the game they've ever had.
And this isn't the first time DreamWorks has been linked to the film. Last year, rumors surfaced that Steven Spielberg would be directing the film and while it remains to be seen if he'll end up taking the job, you can bet he will be reading every script that comes into the DreamWorks offices. [NY Mag]
