My Fellow Gamers;

In the deepening shadows of space, down beneath the twisted corridors of a derelict crypt, and far from the eyes of the curious, a hero slumbers. As the ice and snow and the cold of galactic winter creeps up and around this slumbering man of war, he is not alone. Looking up at him with worrying eyes stands a small angel of circuitry and silicon light, the neon glow of her form illuminating the dark. They wait for rescue. They wait for hope. They wait to at last be needed once more. War, you see, comes in many forms. Between Gods and Generals attempting to gain ground on noble causes or personal wants. Between the rebel and the loyalist. Or between the visionary….. and the realist.

Stand with me for a while, and find out whatever happened to…

The Super Soldier Effect: The Halo Movie

Year of Inception: 2001 – Halo: Combat Evolved
Developer: Bungie
Designer: John Howard
Last Seen: 2014 – Halo: Spartan Assault

Since its inception back in 2001, the Halo universe has continued to expand its influence, to greater and lesser extents, across a multitude of social and media-centric areas that has allowed the series to reach a global audience once thought unheard of. This influence spans comic books, anime, downloadable app games, novels; even a short-lived live action series (Forward Unto Dawn) released shortly before Halo 4 hit store shelves.

Say the words “Master Chief”, or even utter the numbers 117, and instantly, many see the green armored Spartan in their minds. So it’s no small feat of the imagination that interest in bringing John 117 to the movie screens was high. In 2005, Columbia Pictures expressed their desire to adapt the video game to film, and had Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Dredd) pen the initial script.

Initially, many studios were skeptical (and apparently turned off) by Microsoft’s original terms that required $10 million against 15 percent of gross. However, 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios decided to partner to produce the film, paying Microsoft $5 million to option the film and 10 percent of grosses, and hired Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson to executive produce the film, with Neil Blomkamp (District 9) as director.

This deal was promising for several reasons; not only was major motion picture names behind the project, the movie had ready access to Jackson’s rather impressive WETA Workshop. Also, director Blomkamp was no stranger to the Halo universe, having directed and released a trilogy of Halo live-action promotionals collectively known as Halo Landfall prior to the release of Halo 3. However, events began to spiral out of control shortly after, and the future of the movie was in serious jeopardy.

By September 2006, 20th Century Fox chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos began to express their displeasure about the spiraling development costs and, more importantly, the gross-participation costs. They were suddenly and decidedly not okay with any of it. By October 2006, with another option payment looming for Universal, Rothman and Gianopulos insisted the first-dollar deals for Jackson, his producing partner Fran Walsh, and original producer Peter Schlessel should all be scrapped, or 20th century would walk.

Suddenly facing the loss of its much-needed partner on an already allegedly spent $135 million project, Universal issued an ultimatum to the reps for Jackson, Welsh and Schlessel; the three were told that they needed to immediately agree to cut their deals or the picture would go away. Predictably, all three declined, saying that if the studio had said as much from the start, they wouldn’t have wasted a year of their lives helping prep the movie.

Things soon got tense between Universal and 20th Century; 20th Century alleged that Universal was refusing to share the costs, citing mismanagement of the development process by Linde, Shmuger, and Parent; Universal, in turn, threatened to sue Fox. Before you knew it, the once promising movie deal was all but dead.

Where it is Now: Despite rumors that Steven Speilberg himself had some interest in taking over production and direction of the Halo movie, the idea has since been scrapped for a much smaller outing. Spielberg is instead executive producing the Halo TV series set to air on both Showtime and the Xbox One console. An exact release date remains in the realm of rumors for the moment. Nancy Tellem (Microsoft’s president of entertainment and digital media) revealed that the operating budget will match that of HBO’s popular Game of Thrones series. “For us, it’s about taking the necessary time to produce the right shows,” she said.

While that is reassuring for Halo fans, the closest anyone’s had at bringing the series to any kind of screen thus far has been, oddly enough, Microsoft and 343 Industries with their Halo 4 tie-in Forward Unto Dawn. Beyond that, well, the future remains cloudy.

Probability of Success: 11.7%