Halo film

Rumors of a Halo film had been circulating since release of Halo: Combat Evolved. However, in 2004, it was officially confirmed by Bungie that a film project was in development. While the movie was intended to be handled by 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures, both pulled out due to monetary concerns in October of 2006 - postponing the film indefinitely until new distributors could be found.

The Halo movie was to be filmed in live action with considerable CG special effects. Wingnut Films, the team behind Lord of the Rings and King Kong, were also to be a part of the project.

Before it was delayed, it was revealed that the film would have been shot in Wellington, New Zealand, and was slated for a summer 2009 release. To keep the producers true to the Halo Universe, Bungie prepared an exhaustive encyclopedia, the "Halo Compendium", known affectionately as the Halo Story Bible. This condensed account described the total fiction of Halo, including games, novels, characters, species and vessels.

The Halo 3 promotional Landfall series directed by Neill Blomkamp was considered a test of viewer interest in a possible Halo movie.

Production
"If we ever make a Halo movie, who would you want to write it?" So, I asked Marty as we exited the theater, "I bet that Garland guy would be all over the Flood."

- Joseph Staten, after seeing 28 Days Later.

Peter Jackson, a Halo fan, was confirmed as executive producer for the film. While it was assumed that Jackson would also direct, the Emmy-nominated director Neill Blomkamp was announced as helming the project. Jackson expressed his tiredness after long production times on King Kong and that Halo would have been a break. In August 2009, Neill Blomkamp claimed the budget for the movie was around $120 million. Doubting the movie's success, he lost enthusiasm and stated that ""In regards to Halo, my involvement is probably dead, I don't want it and if they came back and offered it to me I'd say no."

When plans for the film fell through, Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp instead started production on District 9. Many elements from the cancelled Halo film were re-used or adapted for District 9, including the basic Warthog and Flood infection form designs.

Script
"Where the Master Chief doesn't have a face...That's hard to carry as a main character for an entire film. But you can certainly surround him with people who don't have helmets on and you can see their faces."

- Joseph Staten

A website called LatinoReview.com has posted a script review of the upcoming Halo movie; Rampancy.net asserts that it's credible; however, Bungie has said the story is not complete.

Joseph Staten has said before that what would have been the "final" script for the film, would have had the Master Chief as a secondary character, taking a back seat to others for storytelling purposes.

In this version of the script, Captain Keyes is mentioned. This was probably referring to Jacob Keyes and not his daughter, Miranda. Evidence in the leaked dialog share a striking resemblance to the opening cinematic of Combat Evolved. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra writer Stuart Beattie wrote an alternate script during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. This draft was to be an adaptation of Eric Nylund's novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. As a defining moment in the history of the Human-Covenant War, Stuart felt Reach was a natural place to introduce Halo to a wider audience:

While a Halo theatrical film has been postponed, the 75-minute Special Edition cut of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn marks the first feature-length film set in the Halo universe. Financed directly by Microsoft and originally released as a five-part web miniseries in October-November 2012, Forward Unto Dawn was released as a direct to DVD/Bluray motion picture on December 4, 2012.

2002

 * Summer of 2002 With the success of Halo: Combat Evolved, Hollywood producers voice interest about making a Halo movie. Concerns over creative control sunk the idea, "thanks but no thanks" said Joseph Staten.

2004

 * 2004 before Halo 2 launch A Hollywood player, Peter Schlessel starts to meet with Bungie staff to discuss movie plans. He proposes that instead of leaving it up to Hollywood, "Finance the script yourselves, Hire a writer, have him write something you love, then bring it to Hollywood with a simple message: This is the movie we want to make. Who wants to make it with us?". On the list of Schlessel approved writers is Alex Garland, who Bungie pick for reasons listed in above article.

2005

 * February 3, 2005 Creative Artists Agency confirmed that Microsoft had completed a million-dollar deal with Alex Garland to write a screenplay based on the video game series Halo, which would then be offered to studios.
 * June 7, 2005 Microsoft released Garland's completed screenplay to various Hollywood studios on June 7, 2005, looking to be paid a $10 million fee as well as the studio's agreement to adhere to guidelines set by the game's developers . Microsoft also wanted the studio to seek approval over the director and cast. In addition, Microsoft sought full merchandising rights for itself, a minimum $75 million budget, and company representatives' full access to the film's rough cuts in Los Angeles. Studios like Paramount, DreamWorks, Sony, and Warner Bros. did not want to cede creative rights to the film and passed over the project.
 * June 2005 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios entered negotiations with Microsoft to divide the distribution rights of Halo. The original $10 million deal was reduced based on the studios' negative response to the exorbitant price tag. In the negotiations, Universal gained rights to release the film in North America, where Fox would distribute the film overseas. On August 22, 2005, Microsoft's deal with the studios was announced to be finalized, with summer 2008 as the target release date.
 * October 4, 2005 Bungie Studios announced that director Peter Jackson was signed onto the project as an executive producer.

2006

 * July 13, 2006 Author D.B. Weiss revealed in an interview that he was writing the screenplay for Halo. At the time of the interview, Weiss said that he was working on his second draft of the new script, which contained elements of the project's original screenplay by Alex Garland.
 * August 2006 Neill Blomkamp is picked by Jackson as the director of the Halo movie.
 * October 20, 2006 Universal and Fox pull out of the deal . A representative of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh said:

The source article also stated that work is apparently continuing on the film (which will be directed by Neill Blomkamp) and that Microsoft is already in talks with other distributors.
 * October 31, 2006 Producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with Microsoft, are putting the much-anticipated Halo movie into production hell, or where a film has stopped in the production stage. Following recent reports that development of the film would continue in spite of studio backers Fox and Universal dropping out, a press release being distributed by Jackson's WingNut Films today confirms that Halo is being indefinitely postponed. Here's their statement regarding the film, sure to be greeted with howls of discontent by fans:

2007

 * May 21, 2007 In an interview with Cinematical.com, Peter Jackson stated that he expected the project to continue soon, once the movie studios "catch a glimpse of the Halo hype first-hand" (with the release of Halo 3)..
 * July 5, 2007 Unconfirmed rumors began to circulate that 20th Century Fox would pickup rights with the movie, however they were never confirmed, putting the development of the Halo movie in question, once again.
 * October 4, 2007 Halo Movie is announced dead by director Neil Blomkamp.
 * October 5, 2007 Frank O'Connor says in an interview with Game Informer that "nobody can declare it [the film] dead except for the owner of the IP [Microsoft]" in response to Blomkamp's statement.
 * October 29, 2007 Ken Kamins, Peter Jackson's representative, has confirmed in an interview that the Halo film is still in pre-production phase. "What happened was this: Universal, on behalf of both studios, asked for a meeting with the filmmakers just prior to the due date of a significant payment," says Kamins. "Basically, they said that in order to move forward with the film, the filmmakers had to significantly reduce their deals. They waited until the last minute to have this conversation. Peter and Fran, after speaking with their producing partners and with Microsoft and Bungie, respectfully declined." According to Kamins would-be director Blomkamp has not been dropped either, in spite of his earlier statements :

2008

 * January 18, 2008 Bungie mentions in its weekly update that the Halo movie is still on hold, but they posted pictures of armor and weapon replicas made by Weta's Workshop that were used in the Halo: Landfall short films.
 * April 1, 2008 G.I. Joe screenwriter Stuart Beattie says he wrote spec-scripts for three potential Halo films; first one being Halo: Fall of Reach, second being Halo: The Rise of the Flood, and last one being Halo: The Battle of Earth. Initially expected to be an April Fools joke, it was later confirmed to be genuine, though he was working in an unofficial capacity.
 * July 21, 2008 Microsoft Game Studios Phil Spencer and vice president of Strategy and Business Development Shane Kim say in a video interview that they are still in discussions with various potential partners and that there continues to be tremendous interest. Quoted from the video: "We wanna make sure, whenever we translate it to the big screen that its going to be a movie worthy of the IP (intellectual property). So we’re going to be very careful about how we proceed there."
 * August 4, 2008 Unofficial concept art for a Halo: The Fall of Reach movie is shown.

2009

 * July 17, 2009 Stuart Beattie announces that he will be planning an attempt to direct his Halo: The Fall of Reach script if no one else will do so.
 * July 24, 2009 At Comic-Con, Neill Blomkamp denies that his upcoming film (District 9) is a showcase for how he could handle a Halo film, and confirms that he is no longer involved :

Peter Jackson also revealed that it was "studio politics" that brought down the Halo movie and not due to the fact that Neill was a new director or the budget cost of the film. As for Halo: Chronicles, he says that it was scrapped when the movie collapsed as well.
 * July 26, 2009 Jackson responds to questions about the current status of the film :


 * July 30, 2009 Microsoft claims that Peter Jackson's Halo projects are not, in fact, dead. "Microsoft Game Studios is deeply committed to supporting and strategically growing the Halo franchise, and our relationship with Peter and his team is something that we greatly value. Given the bandwidth of both of our companies we've decided to put this joint effort on hold and prioritize resources against other projects like Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach and Halo Legends".
 * August 3, 2009 Stuart Beattie elaborates on his Halo effort in an interview:


 * August 7, 2009 IESB reports that Steven Spielberg (who is a closet gamer) was greatly impressed with Stuart Beattie's take on Halo and is planning to sign on as the producer. The article also states that he is in active negotiations with Microsoft to acquire the film rights for DreamWorks, as they are looking for a big tent pole to help launch their newly independent studio(with distribution over at Walt Disney Pictures) after losing Transformers to Paramount.
 * August 11, 2009 A Microsoft spokesperson responds on the Spielberg rumors saying that they're "glad that there's still a lot of enthusiasm in the entertainment industry surrounding the idea of a Halo movie." But he further states that film is still on hold and that they are putting their full focus on the Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach projects until further notice.
 * October 5, 2009 Frank O' Connor confirms that Microsoft is still "being very careful to pick the right time and the right partner" to get the development of the movie restarted in an interview with USA Today. He also reveals that future Halo installments in the franchise are being planned out for the next six years that will provide conclusions to the canon storyline

2010

 * March 25, 2010 It is revealed that interest in the film is high once more due to Halo Legends and the upcoming Halo: Reach game.
 * April 7, 2010 Frank O'Connor states confidently that the film will happen eventually:


 * September 4, 2010 O'Connor says that any Halo film would likely serve as a standalone story and not be "a verbatim retelling of the game". It is reported that they are still developing scripts by Alex Garland with Stuart Beattie, D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson's work as potential blueprints for an updated screenplay.  Microsoft's aim now with Halo: Reach is for the game to relate to wider audiences in order to pave the way for a bigscreen adaptation, hence director Noam Murro's Remember Reach live-action shorts for Reach's viral marketing campaign.  Also,  a  live-action miniseries is on the horizon as well.

2012

 * November 5, 2012 The first feature-length motion picture set in the Halo universe is released in form of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Special Edition.

2013

 * April 10, 2013 Neil Blomkamp announces that he would still be interested in directing a Halo movie, if given the opportunity and more creative freedom.
 * May 21, 2013 Along with the announcement of the Xbox One, a Halo television series produced by Stephen Spielberg is unveiled.

2014

 * April 28, 2014 343 Industries and Microsoft reveal a digital feature produced by Ridley Scott, officially announced at E3 2014 as Halo: Nightfall.

Miscellaneous

 * There are also a variety of Halo props built by WETA Workshop. Even though they were made for the Halo: Landfall short films and not for the actual film, they provide a glimpse as to what the film's visual style would have been like.
 * Writer Stuart Beattie has also been rumored to have written the script for Spy Hunter and confirmed to have penned the script for the GI Joe movie. He was also involved in writing the Gears of War movie script. Beattie also drew up five concept art pieces for the Halo: Fall of Reach movie.
 * In the Hellboy 2 DVD Commentary at 38:41 Guillermo del Toro says he did a design of Master Chief for the Halo movie. He describes Master Chief's helmet as being sleek and self concealed.

Internal

 * Halo: Arms Race, three short films by the former director, Neill Blomkamp
 * Halo: Faith, a fan-made film directed by Jared Pelletier
 * Operation Chastity, a fan-made film directed by Peter Cooper

External

 * IMDB Page - Note that information there can be just as fallible as any other wiki.
 * A fully functional Warthog has been produced by WETA workshop as part of the Halo: Arms Race short films by Neill Blomkamp.