Hollywood balks at Microsoft's 'Halo' pitch

Studio execs brush back software maker's aggressive proposal for film version of popular Xbox game.
The New York Times

The story "Hollywood balks at Microsoft's 'Halo' pitch" published June 10, 2005 at 6:50 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[richtestani]

Oddly I agree with M$

The movie industry would ruin this one as they seem to be ruining the Doom project. I like that there are strict standards the writers have to adhere to.
Make a good movie for the sake of makeing a great film, not just another opporunuty to increase the bank accout.

[Thomas, David]

Strict Standards?

Are you kidding me?! Microsoft does not know a damn thing
about artistry, on ANY level, let alone filmography.

There was a sci-fi film released by them a few years ago ..
hmmm ... oh yeah "Wing Commander". It had lots of potential, but
was hacked to death, NOT by the actors, but by the "creative
control" of Microsoft. I talked my friends into seeing the film and
have YET to live it down!

[richtestani]

Oddly I agree with M$

The movie industry would ruin this one as they seem to be ruining the Doom project. I like that there are strict standards the writers have to adhere to.
Make a good movie for the sake of makeing a great film, not just another opporunuty to increase the bank accout.

[Thomas, David]

Strict Standards?

Are you kidding me?! Microsoft does not know a damn thing
about artistry, on ANY level, let alone filmography.

There was a sci-fi film released by them a few years ago ..
hmmm ... oh yeah "Wing Commander". It had lots of potential, but
was hacked to death, NOT by the actors, but by the "creative
control" of Microsoft. I talked my friends into seeing the film and
have YET to live it down!

[ZP]

What about Bungie?

Do they get anything? They did do all the programming I think they should get some money too. What did MS do publish the title? Buingie does all the work and MS gets the credit HMMMM sound like MS allright!!

[Bob_Barker]

Bungie will get their piece

Bungie will get royalties and creative control. I'm sure they are very happy about this.

bungie developers

they are locked in a undisclosed subterranean location trying to crank out Halo3 to coincide with the PS3 launch. they are fed red bull and assorted junk food. no access to the outside world. boy will they be surprised to hear about this.

[ZP]

What about Bungie?

Do they get anything? They did do all the programming I think they should get some money too. What did MS do publish the title? Buingie does all the work and MS gets the credit HMMMM sound like MS allright!!

[Bob_Barker]

Bungie will get their piece

Bungie will get royalties and creative control. I'm sure they are very happy about this.

bungie developers

they are locked in a undisclosed subterranean location trying to crank out Halo3 to coincide with the PS3 launch. they are fed red bull and assorted junk food. no access to the outside world. boy will they be surprised to hear about this.

Master Cheif

Im excited as the next gamer for a Halo movie, but the only problem with it is going to be the actor for Master Cheif. We all know that whoever is going to be under the helmet is going to want his face revealed. And anyone that knows Halo can justify that this just wont work.

[Bob_Barker]

It would work

It depends on what timeframe they set the movie in. The Halo novels take place from John's (Master Chief, Spartan-117) childhood through several decades of war with the Covenant until the first Halo game comes into view. Along with 72(I think that's how many survived the bio-augmentations) other Spartan II's. And if you read the novels you'd know the Master Chief isn't actually the last Spartan alive. There's at least 4 others still alive during the events leading up to Halo 2. Maybe Halo 3 will mention this. You'd also learn that the Master Chief is a team player and doesn't like working alone like he has during the games. There are TONS of doors for this movie to walk through. As you can tell, I'm a fan. If the Bungie guys liked the script and MS retains it's creative control, we're in for a treat.

Master Cheif

Im excited as the next gamer for a Halo movie, but the only problem with it is going to be the actor for Master Cheif. We all know that whoever is going to be under the helmet is going to want his face revealed. And anyone that knows Halo can justify that this just wont work.

[Bob_Barker]

It would work

It depends on what timeframe they set the movie in. The Halo novels take place from John's (Master Chief, Spartan-117) childhood through several decades of war with the Covenant until the first Halo game comes into view. Along with 72(I think that's how many survived the bio-augmentations) other Spartan II's. And if you read the novels you'd know the Master Chief isn't actually the last Spartan alive. There's at least 4 others still alive during the events leading up to Halo 2. Maybe Halo 3 will mention this. You'd also learn that the Master Chief is a team player and doesn't like working alone like he has during the games. There are TONS of doors for this movie to walk through. As you can tell, I'm a fan. If the Bungie guys liked the script and MS retains it's creative control, we're in for a treat.

[Earl Benser]

MS is being rediculous....

MS want's the publicity for Halo-Whatever, and MS wants other
people to pay for that publicity. Creative control is fine,you don't
want some freaked out director turning Halo into something like
the Batman fiascos.

But MS wants all the PR, most of the profit, all of the
merchandising rights, and anything else they can get their hands
on. And they waant the studios to carry all the financial risk..

... That does sound like MS alright.

..; maybe it's about time Ol' Bill threw maybe 100 million of his
dollars into the hat to be the Halo movie producer. Then give the
studios 15% of the gross for technical support and distribution.
That would certainly be fairer. But being fair is not one of Ol'
Bill's noticeable talents.

Hey Hollywood, tell MS to take a long walk back to Redmond!!!!!

You are the most jaded person ever...

Microsoft must have fired you or you sold you MSFT stock before it started its legendary run. You are anit-Microsoft on everything, and you never give a reasonable explanation why.

Future Headline...
Microsoft cures cancer charges $1 for shot

Talkback..Earl Benser..Dont they have enough money? All you cancer sufferers should tell M$ to take a hike. I would rather die than give M$ $1 for a cure to my cancer.

Let go of your anger.

[Earl Benser]

MS is being rediculous....

MS want's the publicity for Halo-Whatever, and MS wants other
people to pay for that publicity. Creative control is fine,you don't
want some freaked out director turning Halo into something like
the Batman fiascos.

But MS wants all the PR, most of the profit, all of the
merchandising rights, and anything else they can get their hands
on. And they waant the studios to carry all the financial risk..

... That does sound like MS alright.

..; maybe it's about time Ol' Bill threw maybe 100 million of his
dollars into the hat to be the Halo movie producer. Then give the
studios 15% of the gross for technical support and distribution.
That would certainly be fairer. But being fair is not one of Ol'
Bill's noticeable talents.

Hey Hollywood, tell MS to take a long walk back to Redmond!!!!!

You are the most jaded person ever...

Microsoft must have fired you or you sold you MSFT stock before it started its legendary run. You are anit-Microsoft on everything, and you never give a reasonable explanation why.

Future Headline...
Microsoft cures cancer charges $1 for shot

Talkback..Earl Benser..Dont they have enough money? All you cancer sufferers should tell M$ to take a hike. I would rather die than give M$ $1 for a cure to my cancer.

Let go of your anger.

[SteveBarry687]

Everybody's forgetting

that on the Xbox, Halo might be the best thing since sliced bread, but in the big picture of video games, Halo is pretty lame.

The whole thing is a rip off of Larry Niven's Ringworld that was first published in 1970.

Didn't any of you Halo freaks every notice that most of the level look exactly the same.

A co-worker and I played the game all the way through, so we could find out why it is popular. We discovered that Halo is only popular because of Xbox Live. Odd, I have been playing games online for longer than I care to state and I never have thought of paying to do that.

[the.wake]

...

"We discovered that Halo is only popular because of Xbox Live"

Halo (the first) was released before Xbox Live, so that cannot be it.

"on the Xbox, Halo might be the best thing since sliced bread, but in the big picture of video games, Halo is pretty lame."

I had more fun with CSI: Miami than any console game purchased in the last four years. The whole industry's pretty stagnant.

[SteveBarry687]

Everybody's forgetting

that on the Xbox, Halo might be the best thing since sliced bread, but in the big picture of video games, Halo is pretty lame.

The whole thing is a rip off of Larry Niven's Ringworld that was first published in 1970.

Didn't any of you Halo freaks every notice that most of the level look exactly the same.

A co-worker and I played the game all the way through, so we could find out why it is popular. We discovered that Halo is only popular because of Xbox Live. Odd, I have been playing games online for longer than I care to state and I never have thought of paying to do that.

[the.wake]

...

"We discovered that Halo is only popular because of Xbox Live"

Halo (the first) was released before Xbox Live, so that cannot be it.

"on the Xbox, Halo might be the best thing since sliced bread, but in the big picture of video games, Halo is pretty lame."

I had more fun with CSI: Miami than any console game purchased in the last four years. The whole industry's pretty stagnant.