The 'Halo' Movie Adaptation

Halo is, for those who don't know, a bestselling science fiction franchise (in addition to a heavenly ring found in classical art). The series began with the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, and has grown to include three other games, five novels, two comic book series, and merchandise to drown in. The only thing that's missing, really, is a film. And not surprisingly, there was a Halo film planned. What happened?

Talk of a Halo film began early. It turned out that there were lots of fans of Combat Evolved (the game has sold more than five million copies) and Bungie began getting lots of calls from these fans, some of whom happened to be film writers, producers, et al.

As Halo writer Joseph Staten recalled, these Hollywood types might be fans (or smell money), but there was no real evidence that developer Bungie would actually have a say about the adaptation: "Back then the plan was to license the Halo universe lock, stock and barrel [...] Sure, Halo was a hit, but Hollywood has its own way of doing things. In the case of video-game properties that way is usually 'throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip' - an all-or-nothing proposition in which game-developers accept a whack of cash in exchange for a 'we know how to make movies, you don't' assurance of quality."

Bungie has long been known for a laid-back approach, but also serious dedication to their creative properties. In short, this 'throw me the idol' business didn't go down that well. At the time these talks were happening (2002), Bungie was beginning work on the game's sequel, Halo 2, and couldn't afford distractions from production, so the entire idea was dropped for a time.

As Halo 2 entered the final crunch period before release, Staten was introduced to Peter Schlessel, former president of Columbia Pictures. Surprisingly to Staten, Schlessel appreciated their reluctance to part with the IP: "Finance the script yourselves," he told them. "Hire a writer, have him write something you love, then bring it to Hollywood with a simple message: 'This is the movie we want to make. Who wants to make it with us?'" Ballsy, yes; Hollywood doesn't like game types talking down at them, especially since at the time it was not yet apparent that video games were the new blockbuster entertainment property (among other games, it was Halo 2's $170 million opening day gross, the biggest launch of any media product, ever, up to that time, that proved the tables had turned.) But the idea appealed to Bungie. One of the writers Schlessel suggested, British novelist/screenwriter Alex Garland, had caught Bungie's eye for his work on 28 Days Later; Staten thought that Garland would have a good handle on bringing the terrifying parasitic Flood to life. Garland and Bungie met, accolades exchanged, and long story short Garland wrote Halo's first script.

Things began to pick up. Universal and 20th Century Fox were interested in teaming up together to bring the script to screen. By October 2005, Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) was attached as executive producer, and by 2006 South African-born Neill Blomkamp was announced as director. To preserve their creative role, Bungie prepared a story bible that would inform the production of the what-what in the fictional universe. Author D.B. Weiss did a second draft, and by October 2006 Josh Olson was doing the latest rewrite.

And then it fell apart. Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox, who had agreed to co-finance the screen adaptation, backed out of the picture; rumors were that the budget may be rising above the projected $135 million. This put the picture on hold in late October, until new backers could be found. Jackson was hopeful the film would get back on its feet, especially due to the hype surrounding Halo 3's release. Blomkamp wasn't sure, and declared the film dead in October 2007. However Microsoft and Jackson's group haven't committed to such a gloomy ending; another spec script, this time penned by Stuart Beattie, has circulated, but right now it's safe to say the film is in development hell.

And that's a good thing.

Let me explain why. My interest in appraising the status of a Halo film was sparked in part by a posting on the Halo fan site Ascendant Justice, "A Film Called Halo". The folks at AJ are serious Halo fans, particularly of the Halo lore, which has been explored in great depth through the games and the backstory present to all the ancillary materials (the novels, et al.) A bloke with the handle Vociferous got his hand on Garland's script and outlined some issues that he had with the script.

First off, the Sergeant Johnson character (think Apone from Aliens--charismatic, cigar-chomping black dude) was omitted entirely. Johnson didn't do much in Combat Evolved, but in the trilogy he plays a pretty huge role, and omitting him means that you lose an element of humor that lightened the mood of the games. According to Vocif, this resulted in the humor being shoved to the silent protagonist of the games, Master Chief, to disappointing results.

There were other issues, but I can't judge them without actually taking a look at the script myself. More pressing (and in evidence) is that Halo fans would not be satisfied by Blomkamp's direction. While the movie is in limbo, a series of shorts, entitled "Halo: Landfall", did make it to the web (google it to see), and while it's enthralling for bringing a miniscule slice of the Halo pie to the screen, it's clear that this direction does not fit Halo. Halo is a sweeping, remarkably bright space epic, not a grungy handheld war film, but with all the shakycam going on in "Landfall", I wonder if I could watch 90 minutes of that without getting sick. Beattie's script, meanwhile, adapts the prequel novel Halo: The Fall of Reach instead of the game and its novelization, Halo: The Flood. Prequels are prequels because they are tangental, showing how people ended up in the main story. As The Fall of Reach contains almost none of the elements that drive the later games (the enigmatic Forerunner, insidious Flood, and the ringworlds that give the franchise its name) it's hardly a good jumping-off point. The main story has to be told first.

And with these and many other concerns in mind (read the article), Vocif sat down and penned his own script. For a fan, it's remarkably good, and does the essential task of adapting the work to set up a trilogy, answering questions not found in the games, and adding more characters so that the work can remain interesting without people actively fragging the aliens. While I personally disagree with a large number of his choices, from the looks of it his script is the best one so far (it's found on AJ, so read the article and come to the end to find it).

Of course, Vocif's script will probably not end up at Microsoft, but it's also likely, especially given the continued success and expansion of the series, that the film is not done. Remember that the film has been in the works only around 7 years; in development hell terms, that's nothing. Star Trek fans waited 10 years until a motion picture; Iron Man dates from 1990, nearly 20 years ago; Watchmen, a cool 23 years. So it's possible Halo fans have a way to go.

And let it be said at this point that time doesn't guarantee success, either. Iron Man was well received; Watchmen disappointed critics and Star Trek: The Motion Picture disappointed pretty much everyone (director included). Even having a Halo fan or two on the helm won't guarantee a good movie, particularly if a Watchmen-like slavish devotion to the source material is present (with a video game as the source, that's just A Bad Idea.) But whatever comes, chances are the Halo franchise will come to the silver screen at some time. Whether we'll be happy or sad at that, who's to say.

Appendix: Sources
*"A Film Called Halo" (2008-10-31). Ascendant Justice.
*"Halo (series)#Film" (2009-10-13). Wikipedia.
*"The Great Hollywood Journey" (2006-02-01). Bungie.net (via Archive.org)