On the heels of the latest game in the ever popular "Halo" franchise, titled "Halo: Reach", which is a prequel to the original game hitting the shelves on Sept. 14, Microsoft Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor was quoted about whether we'll ever see a "Halo" movie.
The trade says that Microsoft is still developing scripts by Alex Garland, Stuart Beattie, D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson as potential blueprints.
"We're still interested in making an excellent 'Halo' movie," O'Connor said. "We've created an awful lot of documentation and materials to support a feature film. We have a good idea of what kind of story we want to tell, but won't move on it until there's a great reason to do it. We're in no particular hurry."
This is not the first time that a "Halo" movie has been discussed. In 2005, a script for a film adaptation of Halo was written by Garland and then Weiss and Olson rewrote during 2006—for a 2008 release. The movie was to be developed and released by 20th Century Fox, under the creative oversight of Microsoft. Peter Jackson was slated to be the executive producer, with Neill Blomkamp as director.
Fox did not get a film developed in time and the rights went back to Microsoft who then pulled the plug on the film. Jackson was quoted in an interview stating that "Microsoft does have the money to independently fund a 'Halo' movie". It was reported that the budget for the film would have reached or exceeded $200 Million Dollars (US).
Microsoft is also "intently watching" the TV landscape as a potential outlet for a "Halo" series.
Does Master Chief and his squadron have a big enough following to not only get the gamers to the box office, but also the general audience who has not picked up an Xbox controller and played the game or heard of the series? Only time will tell.
Another big question....Who would play Master Chief? We don't have a face to identify him with, so what actor will take on that role?