Some of you may remember the series of short Halo films made by Neill Blomkamp to promote the well-known series by Bungie Studios. There was even talk about having him direct an actual full length feature set in the Halo universe, but with the decision to drop the project, the Halo movie fans were anticipating for a long-time has brought to a screeching halt.

In an interview with the man himself, Blomkamp talks about the demise of the proposed film and what he's been doing since then. The idea of a mythological space war has always fascinated him and he wanted to bring a more realistic approach to the science fiction involved with the idea of a Halo movie.

It was rather unfortunate that the two studios involved, Universal and Fox, weren't getting along with the processes in creating the film. However, Blomkamp has since then moved on in setting up his own project in Wellington, New Zealand. When asked what he felt after the decision to drop the film, he had this to say:

What happened once it collapsed is it made me turn inward and figure out what exactly I felt like doing. In other words, That film is gone, what do I feel like doing? And I realized what I felt like doing pretty quickly, like within thirty seconds. And promptly moved on to that. So you're right, I guess if the film collapsed and I was hell-bent on wanting to do whatever I could to try and get it back up I probably would have done something different than what I did, but I moved in a different direction, and no one knows what that is because I've never spoken about it before, and it's taken eight months or ten months to get to where it is now, sooner or later I'll start revealing in piece what I've been doing.

So far he's been pretty tight-lipped about the new project he's working on, but he assures everyone that given a few months they'll be able to take a peek at what's been keeping his attention since then. For fans who are still interested in seeing a Halo movie brought to life, not to worry. The highly-acclaimed director, Peter Jackson, is still working in collaboration with Bungie in a future project set in the Halo universe. So, who knows? Master Chief just might be coming to a theater near you someday.

Back in October, we shared with you the not-so-good news that the Halo movie was put on hold after it failed to seal a movie franchise deal with 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures. After this development, not much has been said about the planned movie which is supposed to be directed by Neill Blomkamp (who directed Alive in Joburg). But recently, Peter Jackson (the movie's would-be producer) talked to Stuff website about it.

Jackson believes that since Halo 3 is going to be released later this year, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures would again be interested with the movie project. If that's the case, then Halo 3 sure does have a lot of weight on its shoulders since analysts also believe that the game's sales performance would bring Microsoft's Xbox Division out of constant losses.

The Lord of the Rings director also said that he and partner Fran Walsh will only choose to be involved with the Halo movie project if Blomkamp would be the guy calling the shots. Jackson said, "We wouldn't want to do it with anybody else. It'll be Neill's call".

Well, that's all we have for now but we'll surely give you updates about this as soon as we get more info. For now, you're free to speculate if the movie would push through or be forever shelved.

In an interview over at aintitcool Director Peter Jackson - yep, the Lord of the Rings dude - talks about being the producer for the upcoming Halo movie. The interview itself gets pretty lengthy; things like script issues, looking for the right director, R-ratings and mainstream acceptance of video game movies were all discussed.

As far as looking for the right director for the film (Neill BlomKamp), Peter Jackson had three things in mind. First, the director had to really want to do it, and would really want to do it for the fans. Second, they wanted somebody to bring a unique vision to the movie. They looked for somebody who could come up with a vision that would emphasize all the right points of the game. The third criterion and the most important of all, Pete wanted a director who was a fan of Halo.

Almost as if in answer to critics saying that making good movies out of video games is impossible, and that mulling over picking a director isn't that important, Peter Jackson had this to say:

"Good films just need good characters, good storyline and a great director to bring it to life and make a film that you've never seen before. That's what it needs. It doesn't matter a damn whether it's based on a game, a book or a piece of chewing gum, you know? That's irrelevant. It's what actually ends up on the screen that's important."

Take that Uwe Boll.

As for the unfinished script, Peter said they're working on it. They're trying to give as much constructive criticism to the writers as they can. Cutting down a long video game into a 2 to 3 hour movie is a lot of work after all. Here's where the ratings problem comes in too. According to Pete, the studio will be really happy with with a PG-13 rating, but they're considering coming out with a hard R-Rated version of the film in order to please the fans.

Well, I for one will certainly want to wait a bit for the R-Rated version. Microsoft's Halo just isn't Halo without all the graphic violence that adds spice to the story.

We earlier reported about Neill Blomkamp calling the shots for the Summer of 2008 Halo movie. A Vancouver-based director of short films and ads, Blomkamp employs a documentary-style, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending seamlessly with naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery effects that will mesh well with the Halo movie. Recently, he gamely answered questions as to his plans for Halo, Master Chief's armor, among many other things.

When asked if he is afraid of the challenge of directing the Halo movie, he says that he welcomes the challenge but he acknowledges how tedious the process will be and how much focus is required. He continued by saying that "there will be some very hard times, with tons of pressure but you work through it. I am so invested in it from a creative standpoint that my eye just stays on the end goal, I keep focused on making it exactly how I want it and treat every day as a path to that final product, plus the support from the New Zealand team is really amazing, its not like i’m out in the woods alone, they’ve done this back to back for like 10 years."

He plans to be faithful and loyal to the game but also begin "to layer things that have not yet been seen, over the fabric of what exists. You don’t want people who know the game to see the film and not have anything that isn’t new." Although he didn't divulge what those new layers are.

And now on to the Master Chief section of the talk. He assures Halo lovers that Master Chief is certainly something that he do not want to change too much. He says that "there are certain things inside the Halo universe that are sacred and he’s the main one.
Having said that, there is a need to revise certain parts of him, just from a purely technical standpoint, he has to actually be able to move, like a human, and the game design right now does not allow for full motion freedom, which we will have to achieve." When asked if we would finally be able to see Master Chief's face, he says we'll just have to wait till 2008.

To read the full interview, click on the 'Read' link.

The Peter Jackson-Fran Walsh executive produced Halo movie, which will create a stir in the summer 2008, finally has a director.

Sitting at the helm of the film will be Neill Blomkamp, a Vancouver-based director of short films and ads. Blomkamp employs a documentary-style, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending seamlessly with naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery effects that will mesh well with the Halo movie. Visual effects, miniatures, and creature design and creation will all be handled by Jackson's Weta Digital Ltd. and Weta Workshop, Ltd., known for their Oscar-worthy work on The Lord of the Rings films.

To help you decide if the bigwigs made the right decision in tapping Blomkamp to call the shots for the Halo movie, we will show you a video of one of his work called Alive in Joburg, which depicted a future in which extraterrestrials have become refugees. Let us know what you think through your comments, for now watch and decide.