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Halo Film Still On Track
Eurogamer reports that, despite the decision by Fox and Universal to back out of the movie's production, the film version of Halo will move forward. From the article: "Now Microsoft has released an official statement via the Bungie website which reads: 'We are disappointed that Universal and Fox wanted to significantly renegotiate the financial points of the deal. But the Halo franchise is hugely popular and our goal remains the same - to find a partner that shares our passion and will creatively collaborate with us to best represent the story and spirit of the Halo franchise ... Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the rest of the creative team are dedicated to ensuring the Halo movie becomes a reality,' the statement continues.
definitely. in fact this would be open/shut if peter jackson was directing. it's frankly puzzling why they chose the blomkamp guy when he AFAIK has not even directed a distributed feature yet. Not even one. It's tough to sell studios on that much cash and tell them that a guy who technically has never directed a movie before is in charge of what they'll see on-screen. in fact, that is a fool's errand on paper. especially given the mixed success of video game adaptations.
Much goes on that isn't being disclosed.
un burrito me trampeó.
I will explain. Peter Jackson directed several feature films ( I think the exact number is 4; he'd produced twice as many features roughly in the same time span) by the time he was commisioned to do LOTR. He proved himself capable of handling multimillion dollar budgets and incorporating his technical expertise into telling cogent narrative. He also proved himself an excellent manager of resources and was ready to exploit the tax advantages of shooting in New Zealand. So to say that Jackson made it big only through special effects is not accurate. I suspect this is why you posted as AC.
Your assessment is based on emotion (he's created the most unbelievable 3d work I've ever seen... I can imagine... etc.) and hype; there are a lot of people who are far more qualified to direct a film of this magnitude who have displayed Blomkamp's skillset and more.
I suspect the following: Blomkamp is a layer to shield Peter Jackson from personal damage to his brand should the film not do well or not be well received. Thus there needs to be significant disparity between relative skillsets. A failure is chalked up to: he's young and inexperienced, but shows promise. A success is win/win for everyone. This is risk mitigation. Jackson will essentially be directing this film. Blomkamp serves a dual role; he will essentially be pimped out on Hollywood projects afterwards; Jackson will be attached to all as exec producer (as will Weta be, of course: he needs to work hard to chip away at ILM's Hollywood monopoly) and collect his cut in addition to working on his own projects, essentially doubling his earning potential with nominal additional work.
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