Blomkamp: 'I probably wouldn't do Halo if it was offered to me'

In case the news – straight out of Peter Jackson's mouth to your earholes – that the episodic Halo Chronicles project was "no longer happening" wasn't enough to confirm the wreckage of Microsoft's (impossibly?) ambitious plan, here comes word from the other half of the Halo movie project, Neill Blomkamp, who tells Slashfilm, "I probably wouldn't do Halo if it was offered to me."

It's not that Mr. Blomkamp has had a change of heart when it comes to the subject matter – "Creatively, it's very compelling. I love it," he says – but having poured "a lot of ... sweat and blood into Halo" only to have it "bottom out and collapse" is sure to leave one jaded. On the other hand, the collapse of the Halo project paved the way for District 9 – the feature adaptation of his short film "Alive in Joburg" – which the South African-born director calls "more of a personal film." (More personal than a story about cyborg super soldiers on a ring-shaped planet?) For what it's worth, most video game adaptations haven't been stellar, and if early buzz on District 9 is to be believed, Blomkamp may have lucked out.

Oh, by the way, now's your big chance, Stuart Beattie!