Twenty years ago, gamers around the world joyfully welcomed a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier named Master Chief into their pantheon. Halo: Combat Evolved was Microsoft’s killer app for the original Xbox and established one of the most successful media franchises of all time. No surprise, within a few years, the Halo property was being optioned to movie studios for a big-screen production. To some surprise, what ended up happening was a corporate boondoggle. The fallout of that early attempt is still being felt to this day. What was it all about, and why wasn’t Halo made into a movie?
Microsoft sought a movie deal as early as 2005, four years after the first Halo and only a year after Halo 2. The two games made roughly $600 million dollars combined by that point, and the franchise was only going up from there. To Microsoft, Halo was a crown jewel, and they knew they could make a big splash in Hollywood. Microsoft and a Hollywood agency set up a performance tour of their Halo script by suiting up three actors as Master Chief (green, red, and blue colored) and sending them to each of the major studios in LA. The idea was for the studio heads to read the script in a short allotment of time and either pass on or accept the terms set out by Microsoft. It was a gambit unseen in the movie or video game world.
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Peter Schlesser, a producer from Columbia Pictures, met with Microsoft and started developing the idea for movie production. They hired screenwriter Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, to compose the first draft of the Halo script, the one the Master Chiefs shopped around. As grandiose as the Master Chief stunt was, most studios passed on Microsoft’s terms. They were asking for too much control over production, too much share in the profits but not willing to take any of the risk of investing.
Despite the setback, a new deal was negotiated. The project expanded to include a joint financing effort by Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox. Through Universal, Peter Jackson joined as executive producer. At first, Guillermo Del Toro was signed on to direct but, due to his commitment to Hellboy II, he had to drop out. Del Toro’s vision for the project was a slight deviation from the source material, though it could have been an interesting movie, nonetheless. As a replacement, the studios hired rookie Neil Blomkamp, whose hamstrung work on the movie ultimately turned into 2007’s Halo: Landfall, three live-action Halo short films using the props and sets designed for the failed feature film. Blomkamp wanted the movie to be gritty, full of action, and as close to the sci-fi style of the video game series as the budget allowed.
By 2006, unfortunately, the project soured. The script was sent for several rewrites, one of which was by D.B. Weiss (of future Game of Thrones fame). For one thing, Blomkamp reported that producers from Fox Studios did not like working with him, nor did they approve of his vision or style. For another, the three major studios involved splintered and began to compete over control, finances, and the direction the production was going. Microsoft wanted everything strictly confirmed by their eyes, and firmly demanded the lion’s share of profits. Fox decided it was not worth it anymore and pulled out entirely. Universal tried to continue alone, but only if the creative team, being Peter Jackson, Neil Blomkamp, and all the producers, took a major pay cut. It was the only way they could maintain financing without Fox, and without Microsoft’s support. The team unanimously declined, and so production halted. That was the end of the Halo movie.
The silver lining from all of this? Blomkamp and Jackson continued their association to make 2009’s District 9, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Although a Halo movie has yet to be made, there have been several other successful releases. Most were released as promotional material for game launches, or as extra content for special edition runs. 2010 had the Halo: Legends animated shorts. 2012 saw the awesome Forward Unto Dawn live-action miniseries. 2015 had Halo: Nightfall exclusively streamed on the Halo Channel via the Xbox One or a Windows PC.
Additionally, in 2013 a Halo live-action TV series was announced by Showtime with Steven Spielberg as executive producer. Development stalled for five or so years, but picked up again in 2018, only to be delayed again by the COVID pandemic. The majority of filming was completed before the pandemic, thankfully, and the show is still on track to be released sometime this year.
If the TV series is successful, the possibility of a big-screen Halo movie may resume. Hopefully, whichever studios get involved with that project are more dedicated to the franchise.
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