Ever since video games began to lay their claim as the most profitable form of entertainment, Hollywood has been trying to use them for its own advantage. Not that it’s particularly worked out, of course. The curse of video game adaptations is the stuff of legend, and with examples stretching throughout the decades (Street Fighter to Assassin’s Creed, House of the Dead to Uncharted) it’s a wonder studios are still willing to give it a go. However, it appears Hollywood may slowly catching on to this curse, with the list of proposed video game movies that ultimately went unmade appearing even longer than the ones that were finished.
One of the most notable examples is Halo, an adaptation of the science-fiction franchise that has become synonymous with Microsoft thanks to its close association with their line of Xbox consoles. While it’s impossible to talk about the quality of an unreleased film, the project attached such a plethora of A-list talent that it made its eventual cancellation an upsetting result, regardless. These names included Neill Blomkamp, Alex Garland, D. B. Weiss, and (most notably) Peter Jackson, who was set to produce the film with his company WingNut Films. Whether Halo would have been the film to finally end the curse is something we will never know, but the snippets of information we have available paint an optimistic vision that makes for some intriguing (if also tragic) speculation.
But first, a quick history lesson. Halo first emerged in 2001 with Halo: Combat Evolved, a game that would lay the groundwork for the next generation of gaming. It followed the exploits of Master Chief, a super soldier raised from birth for combat, and who helps defend humanity from a collective of alien races called the Covenant who are waging a twenty-year war against the human race. This conflict causes him to cross paths with the titular Halo Array, a colossal ringlike superweapon capable of destroying all sentient life in the galaxy. The games were originally developed by Bungie before the baton was passed to 343 Industries in 2011, and their enormous success (coupled with various tie-in materials such as novels and comic books) has led it to become one of the highest-grossing franchises in the entertainment business. When combined with its blockbuster sensibilities and expansive universe, it’s no surprise rumors of a live-action film began to emerge.
The project was announced in 2005 just one year after the release of Halo 2, a game that had smashed sales records to become the best-selling game on the first generation Xbox. Clearly, Microsoft had hoped success in one medium would translate to another, and hired Alex Garland to pen the script. Garland, who had achieved great success with his novel The Beach and his screenplay 28 Days Later (both of which had received feature film adaptations from Danny Boyle), seemed a natural fit for the high-concept world of Halo thanks to his background in science fiction, and his involvement prompted speculation that the zombielike creatures, the Flood (a recurring antagonist across the games), would make an appearance.
The decision for Microsoft to create its own script rather than just licensing the franchise to a studio and letting them develop the story was an unusual one, and would prove to both help and hinder the project. Reportedly, the script's plot stuck close to what had been depicted in the games, and while Microsoft’s desire to avoid the failures of previous video game adaptations is an admirable one, their determination for creative control despite never having produced a film before is something few studios would agree to. Ultimately, only two studios found those terms amenable, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures, but a finished product was still a long way away.
After the studios agreed to produce the film, work started on assembling a crew. Soon after, Peter Jackson’s involvement was revealed, an announcement that sent the gaming world into a rapturous frenzy. Keep in mind, this was 2005, and the success of his The Lord of the Rings trilogy was still fresh in everyone’s mind. His remake of King Kong was only a few weeks away, and with rumors of a The Hobbit adaptation on the horizon, the ability for Microsoft to attract one of the biggest names in Hollywood was something that would get even a non-Halo fan interested. Jackson’s involvement also brought on board Fran Walsh, his long-time producing partner, along with Wētā Workshop, the special effects company that had earned high acclaim for their work on The Lord of the Rings. It didn’t take long for work to commence. Paul Bertone, lead designer on Halo 2, recalled a meeting with Jackson that involved taking a drive in a fully functioning life-sized Warthog (the signature vehicle from the games) that Wētā had built. All indications signaled that the Halo film was just a stone’s throw away.
The choice of director, however, raised a few eyebrows. Originally, Guillermo del Toro was in talks for the role, a choice that would have perked anyone’s interest thanks to his recent success with Pan’s Labyrinth, but, unfortunately, that fell through. Soon after, Neill Blomkamp was announced as his successor, a then-unknown filmmaker with only a few commercials and shorts to his name. While Blomkamp would later go on to become a big name in science fiction due to his work on District 9 and Elysium, at the time, the choice to give the directing job to someone with such little experience raised concerns. However, the guiding hand of Jackson helped to quell these worries, and soon afterward, future Game of Thrones showrunner D. B. Weiss was brought on board to rewrite the script.
Despite a finished script and pre-production having already started, the project began to stall in October 2006. Universal and Fox were unhappy with the large chunk of the profit Jackson and Microsoft would be taking, and the proposed $128 million budget was a hefty price tag for a property that was still largely unknown outside of the gaming world. In the end, both studios pulled out, and while discussions were held with MGM and Warner Bros. about reviving the project, the film found itself placed under the dreaded title of "indefinite hold," a fancy way of saying it isn’t happening. While the addition of Josh Olson to the writing team appeared to be Microsoft’s attempt to salvage the project (Olsen having been nominated for an Academy Award for A History of Violence just a few months prior), it ultimately made no difference. Blomkamp declared the film “dead” in October 2007.
Even without reaching the big screen, Halo still managed to leave its mark on the industry. Jackson and Blomkamp would reunite just a short time later to make District 9, a film that received widespread acclaim and earned them Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively. Jackson’s mastery of special effects and economic storytelling, combined with Blomkamp’s indie sensibilities that merged fanciful science fiction concepts with a cinéma vérité style of filmmaking, resulted in it becoming one of the best films of the 2000s, an outcome that makes the cancellation of Halo all the more painful. Interestingly, District 9repurposed many of the props that had originally been intended for Halo, a fun nod to its origins that ensures Halo's two years of development wasn’t all for nothing.
Despite the failure of the feature-length film, Microsoft was still keen to expand Halo beyond its video game roots. In 2013, a television series was announced with Steven Spielberg attached as executive producer, but that project also languished in development hell before finally hitting Paramount+ in March 2022. It took almost two decades for Halo to finally make the leap to live-action, and while the mixed reaction to the series has proven disappointing for those who waited so long to see their dream become a reality, there was no doubt some joy to be had from seeing Master Chief and his band of elite Spartans in all their macho glory on the small screen.
The show’s renewal for a second season, along with the vastly different state of the film industry when compared to twenty years ago, means a revival of the Halo film is highly unlikely. Even if it was, it appears that another director would be needed, with Blomkamp appearing reluctant to return. With Jackson also showing no signs of wanting to resurrect the film, it seems that fans will have to be content with the snippets of concept art that have leaked onto the internet, hints of a grandiose project that would no doubt have left its mark. While Blomkamp’s recent directing output pales in comparison to his early work, there’s no denying his partnership with Jackson on District 9 brought out the best of his talents to marvelous effect. His militaristic approach to the science fiction genre is exactly the tone that Halo needed, and given Jackson’s track record for making blockbuster films that delight both critics and general audiences, its unfortunate cancellation will remain the saddest example of a video game that failed to reach the silver screen.
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