Good lord Microsoft has some balls. Hope it turns out great, as an avid halo gamer - I bet Samual A. Jackson gets the part of Sarge. I guess anybody can be Mastercheif - he will be in armour most of the time.
I thought MS would pay...no kill to have a movie like this to kick start the franchise and the new Xbox. I don't blame them. These kind of franchise teen demographic movies usually budget around 50 million and make 75 million based on its hype alone. It's why comic book cult classics like Spawn and Alien vs. Predator were crap. Video game movies have fared far worse. Speaking of Sam Jackson... has his mug been on every other movie lately?
Man, I guess Microsoft forgot to ask for the studio head's firstborn in the deal. Asking for that much upfront, that much of the gross, AND that much creative control and not willing to risk a single dollar? Someone in MS has a huge set of cojones. Especially considering how poorly the vast majority of videogame based movies have done at the box office. I also find it somewhat ominous that 5 of the studios dropped out after reading the script that MS claimed could not be changed. As to casting, Jackson could work as Sarge. It all depends as to where/when the movie takes place though. As to Master Chief himself, someone who's tall (he's like 6'6" in the books and games, if memory serves) and proportional (no lanky, all arms and legs types) in his early to mid 30's. Although I imagine the armor would help with the bulk and camera tricks could work on the height. Since Master Chief doesn't talk all that much (and the fact that he might not even take his armor off in the movie), someone like Vin Deisel might work. Although Vin'll probably want $20 mill and blow the budget. Maybe Kurt Russell if he's still in his Soldier shape. And hey, Snake Plissken always works in an action movie.
I think cortana will be an important role as she does more talking than any other character. I hope Master Chief is done like Vader. Get the biggest marine you can find to do all the work in the suit and then get someone else to dub their voice. They could potentially use whoever is the current voice of master chief if they wanted or some big name guy that isn't 6'6. Ving Rhames is who I want for Sarg. I could see this movie being a lot like Starship Troopers without the satire. The way I fight the hunters probably won't translate well to the big screen. I've actually been waiting for a big budget movie to try to go first person and Halo would have a better chance (even though still an almost infinitesimal chance) than most movies to do this.
I like Ving, but he will ALWAYS be Pulp Fiction to me. My pick for sarge, since I first played Halo, would be Al Matthews of Aliens fame--Sargent Apone. He was GREAT in that movie and I couldn't stop thinking about him playing the role of Sarge in Halo. Hell, even the look of the Drop Ships and Space Marines, including the rifle from H1, are near knock-offs of Aliens. If they do a Halo movie, I hope they put "Mr Show"-aka David Cross-as a trooper, he has some good lines in Halo II. Hopefully the movie will have some teasers for the next Halo installment, which I would assume would be Halo IV by the time the movie is out.
Microsoft better ease up on the demands. Making movies and making films are two totally different businesses. You need to hit a much wider audience if you want a movie to be successful. If they sold only 6.3 million tickets to the movie, it would be a gigantic flopperoo. Their gamer fanbase just isn't going to cut it. So if they're not careful this could be another Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I read somewhere that he had more speaking roles than any other Hollywood actor in the '90s. The fella gets around.
Good for Microsoft. 99% of video game movies are ****, so props to them for wanting the movie to stay faithful to the story, and not turn into another Street Fighter or Resident Evil...
I have a feeling they will do the same thing that happened with the Streeet Fighter movie. If you've seen that movie (I feel sorry for you) you will know what TERRIBLE casting and a rotten storyline can do to a booming video game franchise. I would hope they do it in the Aliens style....not as some colourfull kids film. The Master Chief's suit doesnt need to be perfect, it should look battle worn, beaten up and NOT be fluro green.
What I don't get is this: it's friggin Microsoft. They can hire their own production crew and cast, film the movie, and then find a studio that would want to put the movie out. It's not like they don't have the money and this way, they get make the movie they want to see.
I think the Halo story is well developed by this point. And it is fairly interesting in the game despite its brevity. The special effects are a no brianer. I think it will translate into big dollars.
That would be an even dumber move by Microsoft. What the heck do they know about making movies. Especially a live action movie. If it's a computer generated film then fine, I can see it happen (of course like I said, it didn't work out for Sony). But if you read the article, it's pretty obvious that they are doing this because they wouldn't have to pay for any of the production. They've negotiated a plum deal from Fox and Universal with more on the frontend than most productions and virtually no risk.
That's why i said hire their own production crew. You cannot tell me that Ridley Scott or Jerry Bruckheimer wouldn't consider doing the movie if they were offered the type of money microsoft can give. And not knowing how to make a movie didn't stop them from getting a call on who directs and stars : Even studio executives, known for their lavish spending, winced at Microsoft's demands, including a $10 million upfront fee for rights, approval over the cast and director, and 60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft representatives and their guests to the movie's premiere.
I'm still waiting for the Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie. I'd love to see those Elite Guards on screen.
And how much are they willing to give. I know that microsoft is rolling in dough, but even they would bristle at dropping 100+ million dollars on an action movie budget. They didn't get that big by throwing money around willy nilly. Yeah an uberproducer would be nice (although Microsoft would have to put out some big bucks to lure Bruckenheimer), but those guys still always work with the help of the studios. They aren't running around making movies by themselves. I'm not saying that Hollywood studios are the be all and end all, especially for lower budget features. But they do have the infrastructure, resources and experience to make big budget movies better than anyone. I mean unless you're George Lucas and you have filmmaking experience, industry connections, and a "bonafide, 100%, guaranteed, no doubt about it hit" on your hands, it would be foolish to stake 100+ million that you can do a better job than professionals in their field. Especially when they are willing to do the heavy lifting without you spending a cent.
Man I was thinking the EXACT same thing for who should play Sarge...Apone fits that role so perfectly its freaky. And I totally agree w/ all your points. Halo should be done in the style of Aliens, cause they are really similar in scope. But they would have to be careful not to make it too much like Aliens so as not to be seen as a ripoff. And yeah David Cross would be a perfect comic-relief type, "green" private in the film. Ah but like you said...It's Microsoft. They've found a way to adapt one of their most successfull Xbox titles (and one of the most popular and highest grossing of any console) onto the big screen while staying faithful to the parameters set by the game, retaining nearly comlete creative control, getting a large amount of money up-front, and a high (given their track record) percentage of the box office receipts, plus keeping merchandising rights without having to shed a dollar on production expenses. That's maximizing your profit.
Microsoft could be on to something if the two end up being released around the same time. Imagine how much hype both would get, especially if they do some more marketing like iluvbees or ourcolony. Of course, this is assuming that the don't somehow screw up Halo 3 (doubt they'll have the movie out before that, since the game is supposed to combat the launch of the PS3). Personally, I don't have high hopes for the movie, much like any video game based movies. Here's some numbers from games in the past (all screwy looking just cause I don't know how to make tables): I never realized how badly FF:TSW really did (mostly due to its high budget), although I think it did do better overseas. I want to say it grossed close to $80 million worldwide, which is still not even half of their budget. I guess that explains why Square-Enix was so reluctant to release FF7:AC in the theaters. I will say that I respect Microsoft for seemingly trying to keep this true to the game series, unlike the upcoming Doom movie. While I don't care too much for the game personally, I know how badly movie studios tend to butcher video game movies in an attempt to cash in on the name, which is something I'm sure several movie studios were thinking about doing with Halo. I'm sure they would have been happy making a $20M-$30M movie that made $35M-$40M on the name alone, but Microsoft won't let that happen apparently. Now, some of the other things their asking for is pretty ridiculous, IMO, but at least they got that part right. If the movie does do well, maybe we'll see more movies about video games that are more true to the series instead of the ideas of some movie studio. If only that would fix movie-based games as well. What a difference a great Matrix game would/could have made. Just out of curiosity, has anyone read the novels based on Halo? I've read that these could be what the movie is based on, and one of them is about Master Chief growing up, where doesn't really wear the armor at all. That might be one way to get around the big action star covered in armor problem, besides dubbing some big guy in the suit with a big time actor.
Sam Jackson? Ving Rhames? for sarge? hell no, go to the source from whom the character was inspired/ripped off: an Officer and a Gentleman - it's not like Louis Gossett jr's doing anything else these days.
