Microsoft: no plans for a Halo movie
Pours cold water on recent reports.
Microsoft has confirmed it does not plan to make a Halo movie.
The company issued a statement to Eurogamer after recent reports suggested Alien director Ridley Scott had signed up to produce a feature-length digital Halo movie.
"The Halo franchise encompasses many elements, including games, action figures, novels and more," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer.
"As always, we have many projects in the works that offer us the opportunity to bring in new audiences to the franchise, as we did in the past with Halo Legends and Halo: Forward Unto Dawn.
"We plan to continue telling the Halo story through innovative channels, but there are no plans for a Halo motion picture at this time."
The latest Halo movie rumour was sparked by tweets by Production Weekly. Perhaps it was talking about the confirmed Halo TV series, which Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg is working on alongside Microsoft and Halo developer 343 Industries.
Halo has had an on again off again relationship with the movie world. Hollywood scribe (and occasional Ninja Theory collaborator) Alex Garland wrote the first script, which was pitched to studios by couriers dressed as Master Chief. Halo IP owner Microsoft supposedly asked for unreasonable terms from Hollywood before 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios partnered to produce the film and Garland's script was reworked.
District 9 director Neill Blomkamp signed on to direct with Peter Jackson, of The Lord of the Rings fame, producing, but the project collapsed in late 2007 and the film rights returned to Microsoft. Blomkamp went on to make sci-fi movie District 9 instead.
Blomkamp's still up for making a Halo movie, incidentally.
Halo for Xbox One is expected later this year.
