DreamWorks Pictures has begun talks with Microsoft to take on the HALO film project, reports Vulture.
DreamWorks Pictures has begun talks with Microsoft to take on the HALO film project, reports Vulture. The project stalled in 2006 when Fox and Universal balked on the rising budget. With the latest videogame title, HALO: REACH, earning $200 million on its first day in release, interest in a HALO film is on the rise.
In 2005, Alex Garland (28 DAYS LATER) was paid by Microsoft $1 million to write an original HALO script. Microsoft sent the screenplay around to the six major studios, asking for $10 million against 15% of the grosses. Fox and Universal ponied up $5 million each and agreed to 10% of the grosses. Universal would have held U.S. rights with Fox repping the film internationally. Universal production president Mary Parent had seen Neil Blomkamp's short ALIVE IN JOBURG and persuaded producer Peter Jackson, who was being paid a huge salary and percentage of the grosses, to serve as the young director's mentor on HALO.
DreamWorks would base its HALO film on the novelizations of the videogame. This move allows the studio from avoiding any legal entanglements with the failed project based on Garland's script.
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