Preface: El Mayimbe from Latino Review assures me this is not an April Fool’s Day prank.
When I was in Bucharest visiting Hellboy II, Guillermo del Toro waxed about what might have been, had he worked on the Halo movie. He said it would have been an ass kicker of a film, but it would have been one of the most expensive ever made. It was that expense that has essentially kept the film in Development Hell, but now Latino Review reports that Stuart Beattie, the writer of GI Joe, is trying to break it out to at least Limbo. He’s written a spec script based on the Halo tie-in novel Fall of Reach.
What’s sort of interesting about that is that writers at Beattie’s level – guys who get big assignments like Splinter Cell and Without Remorse – almost never do spec scripts. And if they do, they’re passion projects, arty things. Normally Beattie would go to the studio and pitch his take and not start writing until they hired him, but apparently he believes in this concept so strongly that he went ahead and wrote the damn movie.
Beattie’s spec also includes basic outlines for the next two Halo movies, Rise of the Flood and Battle for Earth. Latino Review’s scooper tells them that Fall of Reach keeps the CGI-created baddies from the Covenant offscreen for the first half of the script, something that might allow the movie to have a reasonable budget.
Says the source, who has read the script: ‘For Halo fans, it’s like the prequel that provides all the answers to questions they’ve thought about for years. For non Halo fans, it’s an exciting action movie that provides a clear, concise introduction to a world five hundred years in the future with relatable characters and a terrifying alien menace.’
14 comments
Sounds good. That novel was a decent read and great way to introduce people to the halo verse.
I get curious about what I'm missing sometimes. I haven't had my hands on a video game controller of any kind in probably 12yrs. I don't understand how this could be a passion project…what is bound to be a commercial. All the names attached to this game is what has me curious.
There is no Halo movie, Einstein. More meaningless crap from the mind of Devin!
Luring me into another dull Halo article with a Half-Life reference is evil, Mr. Faraci. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I don't see this movie working on any level. Master Chief is so completely unrelatable, and following a group of Marines is so stale, even if they give the fanboys what they want and cast Sam Jackson as the Sarge.
As a "Halo" fan, I simply can't wrap my head around this idea. Even with Del Toro waxing about how great his version would've been.
It's a "passion project" in the sense that Beattie heard about the seven figure paycheck that Alex Garland got for transcribing the first Halo game, and felt very passionate about getting the same. And anyone who has ever read a videogame tie-in "novel" should remove themself from the gene pool immediately.
Beattie did a terrific job with the Collateral script and if this script crackles as well as that we could be in for a treat. It would take a strong director to keep this on the right track Del Toro would be such an inspired choice though. As for financing why not co-finance the deal ala Titanic and Master and Commander?
"As for financing why not co-finance the deal ala Titanic and Master and Commander?" – that's what they did last time, with Fox and Universal, I think. And it still cost too much. Videogame movies don't make money. There's nothing to justify a mega-budget here.
"Videogame movies don't make money. There's nothing to justify a mega-budget here."
Wait, how much did the latest game make over the first week when it was released?
Sorry. Not even the Fall of Reach would make a good movie. Master Chief does not equal an intersting character and niether would John.
I can't remember if it was Guillermo who was talking about a movie where master chief wasn't the main character. That would be the only way to go.
I haven't even played Halo 2 yet..
Hayden, try to keep in mind that a video game costs roughly 5 to 6 times as much as a movie ticket, and you might see why video game grosses don't mean jack for movie adaptations.
Halo has a fairly unimaginitive plot, where did they find this novel? Probably in the bargain bin at a used book store.
Out of all the material that is ripe for a video game why did they choose this one???
I can't say I'd be looking foward to this movie at all. I'd rather see Del Toro's talents focused on something more deserving.
Fall of Reach would be the perfect first Halo movie. You get to see how the Spartan program is created, you get to see multiple Spartans working in tandem (something the games have chosen to ignore), and you get your first intro to the Covenant and see a bad ass battle ensue on and around the planet Reach. And all this leads directly into the first game. I have a boner just thinking about Del Toro directing a Fall of Reach movie.
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