Fox And Universal Say Goodbye To Halo Movie

Master_of_Tumbleweeds writes "20th Century and Universal Pictures, the two studios that agreed to co-finance the film adaptation of Microsoft's Halo video game, have abruptly pulled out of the project. This leaves executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh without financing or distribution. A ballooning budget (rumored to have been closing in on the $200 Mil mark) and apparent lack of confidence in rookie feature film director Neill Blomkamp are being named the major culprits for Fox and Universal's decision."

Comments

Re:I'd call this a smart move.

[FofR]

I should point out that the $200m mark is a rumor and Kamins, the representative for Peter Jackson and Fran stated: "The only budget the filmmakers ever spoke about was $145 million less the 12.5% rebate that you get from shooting in New Zealand, which would put it at about $128 million. That was the only number that was ever discussed."

For more details I suggest heading to http://halomovie.trivialbeing.net/ where they have a video/news broadcast and some footage of Jackson's response.

As an aside, they quote: "Microsoft is already in talks with other distribution partners and preparation for the movie will continue. Most of this development is at Peter Jackson's Weta effects studios in New Zealand, so delays should be small."

Re:I'd call this a smart move.

[PhilipMckrack]

Because by the time they budgeted X-Men 3, it was pretty well established it would be a success. The budget for X-Men 1 was $75 million. They are comparing Halo to Doom and Mortal Kombat. Following are worldwide gross amounts for a sample of comic and video game movies. Video game movies can be made to be profitable, but $200 million for a budget is very risky.

Spiderman gross: $821,706,375
Spiderman 2 gross: $783,924,485
X-Men gross: $295,999,717
X-Men 2 gross: $406,400,513
X-Men 3 gross: $455,360,014
Hulk gross: $225,600,000
Daredevil: $179,143,518

Doom gross: $54,612,337
Mortal Kombat: $122,133,227
Tomb Raider: $274,644,183
Tomb Raider 2: $156,453,758

Re:other factors

[ScentCone]

I think you're the one dividing things. Parent was talking about the "GAMING DIVISION".

Which is a red herring, which is why I called him on it. As has been talked to death, here, it's the hardware sales piece of that division that's always in the red. They do great on the titles. Hell, Flight Simulator alone is a cash cow.