10 Promising Video Game Movies That ALMOST Happened
2. Halo
The Halo franchise was the reason to own an original Xbox; a rip-roaring FPS whose story unfolded like James Cameron directed Star Trek. It was classic stuff and would lend itself easily to a film adaptation.
That occurred when Microsoft developed a script in-house with writer Alex Garland, then shopped it to major studios in an expensive bidding war. When the dust settled Universal, Fox and Peter Jackson (as producer) were all involved.
After Guillermo Del Toro declined to direct, Jackson brought aboard promising young filmmaker Neil Blomkamp and pre-production got underway, with this to be a franchise film on the scale of Star Wars.
What Happened?
Unfortunately, it was a case of the three giant studios involved not compromising with the other. While Blomkamp and Jackson worked on prepping a strong creative vision; Fox and Universal were paying the bills yet Microsoft was retaining the final word.
Too many studio egos not agreeing made the whole thing collapsed eventually, with a hefty 12 million dollar development bill left in its wake.
Why Was It Promising?
Halo is teeming with potential as a movie franchise, plus talented (and game-savvy) filmmakers Jackson, Garland and Blomkamp attached, gave it easy potential to be a grand-scale blockbuster franchise.
Have a look Blomkamp's Halo commercial's for further proof.