Universal and 20th Century Fox have agreed to make a film version the popular Microsoft videogame, Halo. Universal and Fox studios are making the film, while British novelist Alex Garland has written the script. A director for the film is likely to be chosen in the next month.

The Halo game, which was released in 2001, has sold in excess of 5 million copies around the world and spawned a popular sequel, which was released last year. Halo is the latest computer game, or game character, to be grab the attention of Hollywood, following Final Fantasy, Resident Evil and Lara Croft. One of the main reasons Halo sold so well as a videogame was because of its gripping, movie-like storyboard.

The game tells the tale of Master Chief, the last surviving Spartan - a genetically enhanced breed of future super soldier, as he battles mankind's greatest threat - the Covenant --on a mysterious artificial ringworld known only as Halo. But he doesn't fight alone: embedded in his MJOLNIR armour is Cortana, a powerful AI, and Master Chief is aided and accompanied by a crack team of highly independent Marines.

Bungie have said it is looking for 'someone who's as committed to the Halo universe as Peter Jackson was to Tolkien's Middle-Earth'. Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox are reported to have agreed to pay Microsoft $5m in addition to a percentage of ticket sales capped at 10 per cent of the domestic box office. They reportedly haggled Microsoft down from $15m plus 15 per cent.

Apparently, Microsoft has been shopping the idea around Hollywood for a Halo movie for some time now, having gone as far as to develop its own draft script. The film's producer is Columbia Pictures' former president Peter Schlessel, who managed Spiderman, Charlie's Angels 2 and Something's Gotta Give. The film is due for release in summer 2007.

BIOS, Aug 30, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Game