Peter Jackson tells Joystiq about the Halo movie, video game project
by Kevin Kelly 
{ Jul 24th 2009 at 3:59PM } 
District 9 – which Jackson produced and is coming to theaters on August 14 – is seriously amazing. There's a wide array of alien weapons that would make Ratchet & Clank jealous, CGI aliens that look better than Avatar, walking mech suits, and a really amazing performance from lead actor Sharlto Copley. Clear your calendars and make plans to see this one. But back to the Halo movie that never was: After the screening, we got to sit down with Jackson to ask him about just that. Read on to find out where the Halo movies stands, and if we'll ever see the long-rumored Halo Chronicles video game project.
Joystiq: So, what's happening on the Halo film front? Anything?
Peter Jackson: Well, Microsoft has a whole strategy with the Halo property, and when the rights expired with the two studios, that sort of ended my involvement with the project. That fell apart because of internal politics at Fox and Universal. It had nothing to do with the budget or anything else. In fact, we hadn't even been greenlit at all at that point.
What about your own company, Wingnut Interactive? District 9 feels like it would have been a great game.
We definitely felt like District 9 would have been a great video game property, and both Neill and myself love games, but we just couldn't get our heads together ... I was working on The Lovely Bones, and he was busy filming District 9, and we just couldn't get together on it in time.
Would District 9 exist without Halo?
District 9 was definitely born out of the Halo film ruins, and we wouldn't have seen this movie if Halo had gone ahead. I have always felt that if fate is taking you somewhere, don't fight it. We realized that we had a real talent in Neill Blomkamp, so we decided to find a project for him and we decided to build a story around his Live in Joburg short film.
How did you get involved in Halo in the first place?
Well, I have a son who is a teenager now, and he was really into Halo 2. So, I ended up playing it and then I went back through and played the original and I loved it. You know, Gears of War is fantastic as well. Anyhow, producer Mary Parent had the rights to it, and she came to me with it.
What other projects will Wingnut Interactive be involved in? Is the Halo project you were working on still happening?
We're still figuring that out right now. That Halo project is no longer happening, it sort of collapsed when the movie didn't end up happening.
With both District 9 and The Lovely Bones opening later this year, writing on The Hobbit parts 1 and 2 underway and tentatively coming in December 2011 and December 2012, and handling producing duties on Tintin ... Jackson is a bit busy. Still, with Jackson's involvement in the Halo movie and the long-since-missing Halo Chronicles game project all but dashed, we'd love to see what he could do in the gaming space, either on the big, or small, screen.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Discotheque @ Jul 24th 2009 4:02PM
"CGI Aliens that look better than Avatar".
Uh I highly doubt that. Still the movie looks fairly entertaining, although it also looks ridiculous aswell. A decent summer film I guess.
Agent55 @ Jul 24th 2009 7:30PM
Kinda surprised anyone that's seen the new District 9 trailer, read anything about it, watched any of Blomkamp's shorts or knows who Peter Jackson is would come to that conclusion.
Devin over at CHUD saw and hinted that it's amazingly good... and that the CGI is so good as to be unnoticeable, unlike the cartoony 25 minutes he just saw from Avatar.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/20239/1/COMIC-CON-09-DISTRICT-9-IS-AMAZING/Page1.html
Discotheque @ Jul 25th 2009 10:46PM
Devin Faraci? The same guy who called "Watchmen" the citizen kane of comic book movies. And disliked The Dark Knight.
Yeah I'll take his word over the countless other blog posts, and professional directors who said Avatar was mindblowing.
Also I saw Blompkampf's shorts. They were great. But this movie looks atrocious. The acting is laughably bad. You noobs keep doubting Cameron, probably wet your pants watching Transformers. I can't say anything bad against Jackson though, LOTR is my favorite trilogy ever.
Wizzleteets @ Jul 24th 2009 4:02PM
It still boggles my mind that the Halo movie was cancelled.
Discotheque @ Jul 24th 2009 4:02PM
Also Blomkampf doesn't care to make it anymore either. He said he's lost interest.
Ballistic H @ Jul 24th 2009 5:05PM
It's all because of 20th Century FOX and Universal. We all know how 20th Century FOX are with new ideas.
Ballistic H @ Jul 24th 2009 5:11PM
I wonder, why didn't he went to New Line Cinema (for the Halo movie) who gave him the "go to" to spend almost $100 million for each Lord of the Rings movie without knowing if it would be a hit while he was a nobody director at the time?
Jackal @ Jul 24th 2009 6:15PM
Ballisitic,
Jackson has an incredibly strained, complex relationship with New Line Cinemas. The two were involved in a legal dispute over the upcoming Hobbit movies and Jackson was blacklisted from working for or with the company; as long as New Line Cinemas Robert Shaye was employed, Jackson would never again work for/with them. Their professional relationship was repaired to a small degree, as Jackson was brought on board to serve as a writer and executive producer for the two films (though Del Toro is taking the director's chair). If you were to read the comments each party made towards each other between late 2006 and mid 2007, it's no surprise the Halo movie wasn't pitched to New Line.
Kevin Kelly @ Jul 24th 2009 6:27PM
Actually, when I spoke to Jackson last night, he said he just wasn't sure he could do another LOTR-type movie again, and try to replicate shots, looks, the way Gandalf enters Bilbo's house, etc. He was happy to bring Guillermo on board (the four of them are writing it right now: Peter, Guillermo, Fran, and Philippa). Didn't sound like any bad blood at all.
cylet @ Jul 24th 2009 4:03PM
so..... nothing got done yet?
Shagittarius @ Jul 24th 2009 4:05PM
That man is just a tiny bit of spittle on his upper lip away from looking like a raving maniac in a straight jacket.
Shagittarius @ Jul 24th 2009 4:07PM
I need to specify that I love this man for his work and his FU attitude to personal appearance.
Cj @ Jul 24th 2009 4:09PM
So the Halo PJ project is dead? Finally some clarification.
Duke @ Jul 24th 2009 4:41PM
Sad that this is how we find out after waiting to hear about it for so long. "Oh yeah, that game, yeah we totally forgot about that game, its cancelled...oh, is that a cheese plate over there..." Hey, thanks for building it up to just blow it off.
rruss79 @ Jul 24th 2009 4:10PM
Wasn't there a another big time director who scripted something about reach and wanted to get that movie in the works.
AndroSG @ Jul 24th 2009 4:15PM
TL;DR
There will be Halo Movie OR (another) Game
??
Duke @ Jul 24th 2009 4:40PM
uh....
tsoul @ Jul 24th 2009 4:16PM
District 9 = Halo project. A property like Halo has way too many interests and too many hands in the cooking pot to come about. This is probably Jackson's way of telling the studios involved "this is what you could've had with Halo if you guys just greenlit the project. oh well." If D9 is as good as early reviews and such, we might just have a new and fantastic sci fi director out there to enjoy.
The Dark Wayne @ Jul 24th 2009 4:16PM
AUUGGGHHHH!! I waited so long to find out about the "Halo Chronicles" thing and after 4 years the only news is that it's canceled! Fate you are own cruel bitch!
Magic Whiskey @ Jul 24th 2009 4:16PM
I really can't wait to see District 9. Looks very promising.
ryan_white619 @ Jul 24th 2009 4:17PM
so easy a caveman can do it
Sean @ Jul 24th 2009 4:26PM
+1 to you sir
Bradwart @ Jul 24th 2009 4:43PM
I wanted a Fall of Reach movie more-I was concerned by the way Jackson was taking Halo apart. The game is about the Master Chief, not the Marines. Also, FoR would help new people learn the backstory.
oOWallaceOo @ Jul 24th 2009 5:01PM
I can't wait for D-9, it looks awesome. Has anyone seen the trailer for "Gamer" ?
Ballistic H @ Jul 24th 2009 5:04PM
Advice: NEVER bring new ideas to 20th Century FOX.
Manly Mcbeefington (Mr. ESC) @ Jul 24th 2009 5:59PM
Peter Jackson should totally do a Gears of War movie.
Bobs @ Jul 24th 2009 8:39PM
+1
district 9 is looking amazing
shadowbender @ Jul 24th 2009 9:07PM
The movie is already happening (But probably put on hold). But yeah, Jackson should totally get involved.
alahmnat @ Jul 24th 2009 7:08PM
It would seem I wasn't terribly far off the mark at all when my first reaction to the District 9 commercials was "Oh, so *that's* what became of Jackson's Halo movie project...". Definitely interested in checking it out.
shadowbender @ Jul 24th 2009 9:06PM
This is such a disappointment for the Halo film franchise, same with "Halo Chronicles". I'm baffled as to why the studios didn't stop there bull crap and realize that the films were bound to be box-office gold. And I always dreamed of a Halo game being made by the legendary Peter Jackson. What a disappointment.
But still, I'm glad "District 9" is getting good early reviews. Always new this movie would be amazing.
Now, I am REALLY waiting for Gore Verbinski's "Bioshock" movie adaptation. It's good to know that Verbinski himself said that he didn't want "Bioshock" to end up like the "Halo" movies. After beating "Bioshock" a couple months ago, it was one of the most captivating, compelling, and spectacular games I've ever played. Can't wait for the film.
Kevin Kelly @ Jul 25th 2009 11:04PM
Trust me, we saw footage of Avatar here at Comic-Con, and none of us were blown away. Seriously, District 9 is fantastic. Don't listen to people who pontificate after seeing just a trailer. I've seen the whole thing and it's great.
bill @ Jul 25th 2009 7:52PM
District 9 looks garbage, as Blomkamp's other film. Really annoyingly bad crap.
This thing will be relegated to DVD and then forgotten faster than you can shake a stick.
Alive in Joburg was shit, I heard so much about how good it was, and couldn't believe how awful it was when I actually tried to watch it. It would seem to be difficult to actually make such a short film boring, but Blomkamp pulls it off somehow.
It's best the Halo movie never came about, simply because of Blomkamp's connection with the project, it would have doubtless been terrible.
bill @ Jul 25th 2009 7:58PM
There's a lot of stupid people in the world I guess, and they think bad movies are good. Hence the love of District 9, which even the previews are so awful and cliched and, just fucking stupid. But if you are stupid, then a stupid movie seems smart to you I guess.
Avatar will blow this away btw.
Anyways, GUARANTEE this will do a short, unspectacular box office run, followed by a future only on low budget DVD, followed by quickly forgotten.
Believe me, I know. I got into lots of internet arguments about Children of Men for example, I told all it's defenders it would not stand the test of time but be forgotten, and today it is.
Ash @ Jul 27th 2009 7:03AM
The shorts & trailers for this are great, and I think the movie will be too, if people could be bothered to actually see the deeper symbolism of the events in films. Take, for example, district 9 itself - it's a blatant reference to the apartheid era. The story seems *fairly* unique, and intriguing.
If the people complaining about how crap it is could actually look deeper into a movie then z0mg robotz adn aleinz an BIG ASPLOSUNZ R KEWL, you'd probably enjoy it.
The CGI is, IMO, awesome. the aliens and their interaction with the world around them especially. Look at the 1:30-1:31 in the trailer, and look at the amount of effort put into the scene, even as just an alien's foot; There's rubbish, cracked tarmac, the dust moves realistically when the alien's foot hits it, the alien's foot has fairly evident baked mud on it...
Kevin Kelly @ Jul 29th 2009 1:27PM
That's the spirit! You won't be sorry.