Despite years of starts and stops, HALO is one video game that should have been a slam dunk to convert to the big screen and has yet never made it. Names like Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp, and Guillermo Del Toro bandied about as possible helmers, the closest we have gotten is the announced XBox Live television series from Steven Spielberg that is coming soon. New rumors recently popped up naming Ridley Scott as a potential director for the HALO movie and movie fans began to contemplate just how cool that would be.
Alas, Microsoft has squashed those Ridley Scott rumors as well as any rumors of a HALO movie entirely. In an interview with Eurogamer, a spokersperson for Microsoft laid out the future of HALO.
“The Halo franchise encompasses many elements, including games, action figures, novels and more. 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.”
So, there you have it. For now, at least, HALO will remain a small screen franchise. A lot of great live action work has been done based on the series in the form of short films and commercials which makes you wonder why it hasn’t made that jump yet. Microsoft likely doesn’t want to lose creative control over HALO and studios probably don’t want to give a third party that much of a final say.
So, while ASSASSIN’S CREED and WORLD OF WARCRAFT fans can rejoice that their games will be getting quality big screen adaptations, HALO fans will be left pondering what could have been.