Ever since gaming became a really big, bankable institution, it hasn’t taken Hollywood executives too long to realise that they can make some real coin from these unique properties. We’ve seen gaming film rights snapped up quicker than a crocodile in a feeding frenzy, resulting in some decent popcorn material, as well as a few crimes against celluloid and humanity.
One of the big games however, Halo, with its rich narrative and ample material for action, has been languishing in development hell for several years now, with everybody from Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson to District 9’s Neil Blomkamp signed on to direct the feature film at one point. Now, a French website has picked up some interesting, if tantalising info on the future of the film property.
As scanned by Halo.fr and translated by HBO (via GAF), a French press kit has the following phrase written on it;
A film adaptation is set in 2012. It will be conducted jointly by two heavyweights of American cinema: Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks.
DreamWorks, which was set up by Spielberg in 1994, has gone on to produce several award winning and popular films, with an animation arm, DreamWorks Animation, proving to be a valuable resource with its own share of successful feature films.
Don’t get your hopes up on a real life version of Master-Chief kicking ass and taking names on the silver screen however, as it would still take around 2 years for a full-fledged, high budget film to be made, and that’s not even counting the time it would take to set up pre-production for it.
The safe money however, would be to bet that Spielberg and his DreamWorks animation team are teaming up to create a short film for part of a Halo 4 promotion next year instead. Its still going to be several years before Hollywood is ready to commit to such a high stakes venture, but hopefully, Spielberg and his crew can surprise us with something next year.
Last Updated: October 7, 2011
