Universal and Fox withdraw from Halo film

[slackbladder]

news.bbc.co.uk
Where do they go from here? Columbia perhaps?

 

[YSSMAN]

...It certainly is dissapointing news, but I don't think it is the worst thing that could have happened either. With NBC/Universal in so much financial trouble to begin with, I really could understand if they wouldn't want to support a movie that had a reported projected budget of $200 Million USD.

Reports here in the US are saying that only Universal dropped out and that 20th Century Fox was still on-board, although that may be up to question as well. I think the most important part of the piece is that Peter Jackson and WETA is still on-board as well, as they are argueably the "make or break" piece of the Halo puzzle. Generally speaking, the only other team that could pull-off a movie like this would be Lucasfilm, and I really don't think there is any way around that.

...If 20th Century Fox does decide to pull out, I think the next logical company to side with would be New Line Cinnema. They are one of the few movie studios without ties to Sony, and there are obvious reasons why a any Sony related company wouldn't want to do a Halo movie. Hence why Columbia Pictures would have no reason to work on the film...

The good news about New Line would be that they argueably would have the money after the successes of the LOTR movies. Added to that, the heads of the company are known to be risk-takers, and are credited for successes like The Matrix and Austin Powers. They also seem to let their films be a bit edgy, and that would be good news for the folks working on the Halo movie.

...Now if Microsoft would retract their requested profit margins for the movie, I think they could have more success at luring companies in. This could easily be the biggest movie of 2007 if all goes well, and if things go as big as they should (despite $200 Million production costs), Universal and possibly Fox may be kicking themselves a year from now...

 

[Zrow]

I wish Ridley Scott was set to direct this - I think he could do a pretty great job.

 

[YSSMAN]

I think I'm content with the noobie director. He seems to be enough of a fan of the franchise to know what he is doing, and with Peter Jackson as producer, you can assume it will be a great product. George Lucas would be great too, but that wouldn't happen...

Let us all thank God that we don't have Uwe Boll directing!!!

 

[a6m5]

If 20th Century Fox does decide to pull out, I think the next logical company to side with would be New Line Cinnema. They are one of the few movie studios without ties to Sony, and there are obvious reasons why a any Sony related company wouldn't want to do a Halo movie. Hence why Columbia Pictures would have no reason to work on the film...

Exactly. 👍 Sony don't want Halo, Microsoft don't want Sony either.

This could easily be the biggest movie of 2007 if all goes well, and if things go as big as they should (despite $200 Million production costs), Universal and possibly Fox may be kicking themselves a year from now...

Maybe, maybe not. First of all, why are Universal dropping out? If it was the financial, or working relations, that's one thing. But a lot of times, crappy production and/or poorly distributed budget upsets studios, too.

 

[YSSMAN]

Outside of New Line, I think one of the few remaining studios that doesn't have any ties to Sony would pretty much come down to Disney/Mirmax, Warner Brothers, and maybe Lion's Gate. Disney probably wouldn't want to attract too much negative attention over a movie like this, and although Mirmax could certainly do something along those lines (Hello, Blade!). Warner Brothers is indeed the largest film production company here in the US, and certainly would have more money to throw around than anything else, but with their ties to Sony in question, would they be willing to work with Microsoft? Money talks, but that doesn't mean Warner Brothers will. Lion's Gate, again, may be another option. But they, atleast in my understanding, wouldn't have the money to put forth with a project like this.

...I'd guess that 20th Century Fox would stick with it, maybe not, but I'd keep my fingers crossed on a company like New Line to pick up the pieces...

 

[YSSMAN]

I suppose this is a "bump," but a newsworthy one at that...

Variety and IGN are both reporting that Fox and Universal are completely out of the picture now and that Microsoft is turning towards Warner Brothers and Paramount for poduction possibilities.

Why some deals won't work (according to the article):

- Sony for obvious reasons
- Disney for Steve Job's partial ownership of the company and Pixar
- New Line for legal issues with Pete Jackson

...So I guess I'm going to have to count on the Halo movie being picked up by Warner Brothers then...

 

[a6m5]

Isn't the script written by Alex Garland?(I'm pretty sure that's his name). I love the movies based on his novels. I hope the studio(whomever it's going to be) don't ruin this movie.

 

[YSSMAN]

The guy who wrote 28 Days Later penned the first draft that Microsoft reportedly bought for $10 Million, but has hired D.B. Weiss to go over the draft to make sure that it was indeed enough to satisfy the fanboys.