By Joshua Tyler
| Printed
In 2001, Halo was launched, sending shockwaves by means of the leisure and know-how industries. There hadn’t been something prefer it because the debut of Star Wars, a very contemporary, absolutely shaped unique property with advanced lore, background, know-how, large concepts, and even larger motion sequences.
It appeared poised to turn into a generational hit, an SF juggernaut. Blockbuster films had been deliberate, tie-in novels had been launched, and followers camped out days prematurely for every new launch. Then it fell aside. The promised Halo film by no means occurred, the video games based mostly on it declined in high quality, and it was buried underneath a mountain of cash-grabbing and company greed.
Now, what ought to be the most important sci-fi on the planet is nothing however a fading reminiscence from the previous. Because of this Halo failed.
Halo Launches And Turns into A Juggernaut
On November fifteenth, 2001, Microsoft launched Halo: Fight Advanced. Developed by Bungie and revealed by Microsoft Recreation Studios, the sport was first launched for the Xbox console. In 2003, Microsoft launched variations for Home windows and Mac OS.
Since then, Microsoft has launched quite a few Halo video games, books, shorts, and, most just lately, a tv present. Halo has turn into a globe-spanning franchise with legions of followers. However now, it’s stalled, and as evidenced by the latest failed try at a Halo TV present on Paramount+, after almost 25 years, Microsoft nonetheless has no concept what to do with it.
It didn’t must be this fashion. Again in 2005, Microsoft went to work on a Halo film, a film that would have delivered every thing the area franchise’s followers had been ready for. Sadly, twenty years later, there isn’t any Halo film.
Microsoft’s Halo Film Desires
After the mega-success of the sport Halo 2, Microsoft needed extra from the Halo sequence. They knew they’d one thing large on their palms, and as such, they might make lots of money from field workplace gross sales. Not solely that, however they thought a Halo film would enhance gross sales for his or her Xbox consoles.
To actualize its Halo film dream, Microsoft commissioned a full script. They paid acclaimed 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland a whopping $1 million to finish the script, and he delivered.
Microsoft “supervised” the screenplay to guard their model. Alex Garland completed the primary draft in just some months, and in 2005, the title of the primary film, Halo, was introduced.
The software program large approached iconic Hollywood expertise company CAA about its Halo film ambitions. It was such an enormous deal and considered such a certain moneymaker that they held an public sale to seek out the very best bidder.
The Greatest Film Pitch In Hollywood Historical past
To up the ante, CAA and Microsoft put collectively one of many greatest pitch occasions within the historical past of Hollywood, one thing that’s nonetheless by no means been topped. They employed actors, then dressed them in Spartan armor like that worn by Halo’s important character, Grasp Chief, and despatched them to choose up and ship scripts to main Hollywood studios. Round noon on June sixth, 2005, these absolutely outfitted, script-bearing Grasp Chiefs marched by means of the streets of Hollywood in costume and arrived on the studios in crimson, blue, and inexperienced Spartan armor.
It was Larry Shapiro at CAA who got here up with the concept the messengers gown in Grasp Chief’s armor. He needed the Halo deal to make headlines, and this stunt appeared like a certain approach to make that occur. He was proper. It was an enormous spectacle, one which was broadly mentioned and lined by the then-flourishing unbiased on-line leisure information business. Everybody was excited, everybody needed it, and phrase was that the script they had been delivering in such an attention-getting trend was nearly as good as followers hoped.
Every of the Grasp Chiefs had a red-bound folder bearing the Inventive Artists Company emblem. Within the folder had been two gadgets: a phrases sheet and a replica of the screenplay commissioned by Microsoft. These red-bound folders had been delivered to each main Hollywood studio, apart from Columbia, which is owned by a direct Microsoft competitor, Sony, the corporate behind PlayStation.
After the supply of the scripts, the assorted Grasp Chiefs waited for hours outdoors whereas Studio Execs learn the screenplay. Every studio had 24 hours to learn the script. Every script got here with a time period sheet.
Since Microsoft was unfamiliar with Hollywood’s tradition, they needed to dictate the phrases. They deliberate to guard the Halo franchise by controlling how their recreation was portrayed. The clock was ticking. Everybody needed to know if Hollywood could be able to make a proposal.
It was the deal of the century, and everybody anticipated that the Halo film would take over Hollywood in the identical means the video games took over their business. Each studio responded, however they tried to barter the phrases. Solely Fox responded with a “Sure” on their time period sheet with out negotiating.
Microsoft Makes Ridiculous Calls for Of Hollywood
Microsoft demanded $10 million for 15% of the field workplace product sales on Halo. This was along with a minimal $75 million price range for the movie. Additionally they needed a fast-tracked manufacturing and required artistic approval over the Halo film’s director and forged. The calls for had been far outdoors the norm for Hollywood tradition, and a few of them had been, admittedly, ridiculous. For example, Microsoft requested 60 first-class aircraft tickets for its staff and visitors to attend the Halomovie premiere.
It’s additionally necessary to bear in mind right here that Microsoft was not placing up ANY of its cash into manufacturing. All they had been prepared to threat was the $1 million already paid for Alex Garland to jot down the Halo script. Moreover, the corporate was unwilling to assign any of the Halo merchandising rights.
Microsoft’s huge necessities saved Paramount and others out of the fray. Finally, Fox and Common determined to collectively fund the film. The settlement was that Fox would take overseas field workplace income whereas Common took the home field workplace income. Sadly, Fox and Common quickly realized that Microsoft was an inconceivable companion. The numbers didn’t work out. The quantity of revenue left for Fox and Common after Microsoft skimmed off the most effective components wasn’t sufficient to maneuver ahead with the Halo movie.
Peter Jackson Begins Work On The Halo Film
Whereas Hollywood’s execs had been worrying concerning the numbers, they had been properly conscious they’d what appeared like a sure-fire hit of their palms.
Alex Garland’s Halo film script laid out a storyline that was mainly the whole plot of the unique Halo recreation. The Grasp Chief, assisted by an AI referred to as Cortana, would battle the Covenant whereas trying to save lots of the human race from being pulverized. The story was a direct adaptation of precisely what occurred in Halo: Fight Advanced.
In different phrases, Alex Garland’s script was precisely what followers needed. It was additionally just about the precise reverse of what all of us acquired within the horrible Paramount+ TV present years later.
A number of filmmakers needed to be a part of the Halo film undertaking. Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings films, got here on board as a producer in October 2005. Industrial director Neill Blomkamp (who would later be identified for thes sci-fi film District 9) was to direct the movie.
Neill Blomkamp Tries To Remake Halo In His Personal Picture, Destroys Every little thing
Earlier than Neill, Guillermo del Toro had additionally been in negotiations. It was Del Toro that everybody actually needed. Sadly, Del Toro handed on the Halo film alternative to work on Hellboy 2: The Golden Military. So, Neil acquired picked as a substitute. Lord of the Rings particular results gurus WETA Workshop had been chosen to deal with the Halo film’s results.
Sadly, Neill Blomkamp wasn’t pleased with giving followers what they needed. He started insisting he would do one thing completely different. As a substitute of creating a Halo film the place a warrior battles his means throughout a mysterious alien ring and uncovers its secrets and techniques, Neill needed to make a cyberpunk movie.
Blomkamp spent 5 months at WETA rewriting the Alex Garland screenplay, a screenplay that almost all thought was already excellent. When he was accomplished, Fox didn’t like the thought, they usually knew Microsoft would hate it much more.
The one individuals in Blomkamp’s nook had been Bungie, the builders of Halo. Regardless of being virtually sure to alienate their followers, Bungie beloved the cyberpunk fashion Blomkamp deliberate for the movie. Their assist didn’t matter. Fox was getting sick of battling with Microsoft, and the whole undertaking imploded in a fireball of greed and ego.
The Sluggish, Remaining Loss of life Of The Halo Film
The potential for revenue lingered for a couple of years, sometimes drawing in newly events.For example, in 2010, DreamWorks briefly thought-about taking a stab at making the Halo film. Simply as Neill had a unique imaginative and prescient for the movie, DreamWorks additionally needed to discover the Halo novels as a substitute of the video games.
Their concept was to sidestep Microsoft and its ties to the sport completely. It was as if creatives refused to take the sport critically and needed to slap the identify on one thing completely different. Not one of the execs concerned thought that was a good suggestion both, so after a couple of months, they deserted that concept too.
Microsoft proved tough to work with, Hollywood’s entrenched pursuits had been uncooperative, and Halo was simply too large for anybody to be prepared to spend the form of cash on it that the franchise deserved. Nobody needed that form of threat. Halo was useless as a possible film franchise.
Halo’s Creators Abandon Their Franchise
Amidst the entire mess, Halo’s creators at Bungie appeared to surrender on their money cow. From Halo: Fight Advanced in 2001 by means of Halo 3 in 2007, the sequence mirrored Bungie’s priorities, not Microsoft’s long-term model technique. By 2007, Bungie was overtly keen to maneuver on. The studio now not needed to be outlined by a single franchise, whereas Microsoft needed Halo to survive anyone artistic workforce.
A separation settlement formalized this shift. Bungie would end Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: Attain (2010), successfully closing its personal chapter, whereas Microsoft consolidated full management of the IP.
Given Bungie’s willingness to let Neill Blomkamp wreck their universe along with his weird cyberpunk plans, some Halo followers may need felt optimistic concerning the change. However the reality is, the day Microsoft took over absolutely is the day fan enthusiasm started to wane.
The Halo TV Present No One Wished
Microsoft’s inept stewardship finally resulted in a Halo TV present, launched in 2022, lengthy after Halo’s peak, and produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Tv. In case you’ve seen it, you hated it. The TV sequence used virtually nothing from the sport and ignored the fundamental fundamentals of the Halo universe.
For example, not solely did Grasp Chief take his helmet off, however he additionally virtually by no means wore it. They even didn’t get Cortana proper. She ended up as a minor character who was by no means with Grasp Chief for greater than a minute within the present’s total run.
The Halo TV sequence appeared to exit of its approach to keep away from exhibiting something good. Characters typically talked about cool issues occurring off digital camera, however apart from three or 4 minutes of precise fashion Halo fight (unfold all through the whole two seasons), nothing Halo-like ever occurred. There wasn’t even a hoop.
Now, with the failure of the Halo TV sequence, it’s unlikely anybody will need to make investments money and time in a Halo film. In case you’ve seen the TV sequence, then you already know they didn’t make investments a lot cash in that both.
Halo’s Future Is Not Shiny
The thought of a Halo film is useless, for now. Possibly in a far-off future not but seen, followers will lastly get the Halo film they’ve needed and deserved. However even that feels unlikely. Microsoft itself now appears to have given up on the Halo model.
In 2025, they introduced that Halo would now not be an Xbox unique and as a substitute could be cross-platform. They don’t suppose it’s sufficient of a draw to trouble with anymore.
Worse, there hasn’t been a brand new Halo recreation launched in years, and there aren’t any plans for it. As a substitute, phrase is that the previous video games will merely be remade and ported over to new platforms.
It didn’t must be this fashion. When these multi coloured Spartans marched by means of Hollywood, they weren’t simply promoting a script; they had been marching towards a once-in-a-generation sci-fi alternative. This might have been, and will have been, the Millennial Star Wars.
Greed, ego, and a failure to take players critically doomed all of it. Now, Halo is on life assist, a dying franchise with little to stay up for, and followers with nothing to do however bear in mind the glory days of midnight line launch events and surprise what if.