Showing: TBA Finally, about ten years after someone mentioned making a Halo movie might be a good idea, someone has got an adaptation off the ground. Apparently ignoring the fact that the rewards in turning a video game into anything else are invariably slim and made even less likely by fan-boys who want originality almost as much as they like picking faults with even the most minute differences to the object of their obsession. If anyone can do it, surely it's Spielberg - and with Neill Blomkamp rumoured to be in contention for the pilot, there are reasons to be cheerful. As long as you ignore pretty much all of the other attempts to make anything live action under the Halo banner. The Selling Point: The primary audience is assured, even if mainstream watchers might sneer at the very idea. And Halo is an enduring brand for a reason. The Concerns: It's a video game adaptation no matter how you dress it up, and what precedent exists would suggest that the pitfalls and potential missteps are many and varied. And that means success not only isn't assured, it's not going to be particularly assumed either.
17. Westworld
Showing: TBA For quite a while Westworld was almost another film. Back in 2007, it looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger would be the man to star in a remake written by the scribes behind Terminator 3, and then later Tarsem Singh and Quentin Tarantino were offered the chance to direct it. Tarantino turned it down and thankfully Singh's version crashed and burned without too much fanfare. But then in 2013, HBO announced that they'd ordered a pilot and that JJ Abrams would be producing along with Jonathan Nolan, who would write and also direct the pilot: from the ridiculous to the sublime in a matter of 6 years. The high-concept sci-fi will focus on Michael Crichton's original story of an android theme park that becomes autonomous (and evil) - sort of like Jurassic Park but with Woody the Cowboy's big brothers and sisters. The Selling Point: The concept: the original movie was genius even without the kind of technological advances that even TV shows can afford now. The Concerns: Somebody has already tried to make a Westworld TV show; back in 1980, which lated a worryingly 3 episodes before it was canned. Hopefully that's more an indication of the quality of that show, rather than of the idea behind it.
