Studios Pull Out of Halo Flick
Never put $200 million of trust in a neophyte South African moviemaker - or so the message seems to be.
Even the power of Peter Jackson wasn't enough to save the Halo movie, it seems. The esteemed director said on Tuesday that work has ceased on the movie adaptation of Microsoft's bellwether franchise.
The first signs that the movie was in trouble came when the film's director was announced. South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp built a name for himself in short-form work, but Halo would have been his first big project.
With the budget reportedly heading upwards of $200 million, backers at Universal and 20th Century Fox started to feel the burn of hesitance and decided that it was best to pull out of the project.
"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." So reads an official statement, as reported by Ain't It Cool News.
That doesn't, however, appear to be the end of the story. Jackson and his company are still hoping to get the project off the ground at some point.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo
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