When someone finds out what I do for a living, and if they’re a guy (and not one of those sad, desperate, over-spending PS3 owners), usually one of the first questions they ask me is: “Hey, what’s up with the Halo movie?” Tonight I imagine that question is being asked more frequently than ever, as Xbox 360 owners of all creeds and backgrounds assemble in massive lines at more than 10,000 locations around the country to pick up their copy of Halo 3 when it goes on sale at midnight. Hey, you’ve gotta talk about something while you’re standing there.

If you’ve been following along with our coverage over the past few years, then you already know the answer. For those of you who haven’t been here for every little piece of news, it seems like the perfect time for an update. In a nutshell, the news is not good, but there’s hope.

By way of quick recap, in 2005 Microsoft hired screenwriter Alex Garland to come up with a screenplay. He did, it was sold to a team-up of major studios, and Lord of the Rings genius Peter Jackson was brought in to executive produce. The Halo movie seemed to be on the fast track. Then someone stuck a plasma grenade on the project.

The plasma grenade’s name was Neil Blomkamp, a visual effects artist who’d never really done anything except produce a few cool robot clips which showed up on YouTube. Peter Jackson hired him to direct the movie, and refused to do it without him. The studios funding their paychecks blanched, pulled out, and the project has been stalled ever since.

Recently though, perhaps because of the impending release of Halo 3, Halo: The Movie has been showing signs of life.

20th Century Fox has gotten involved with the Halo universe. No they haven’t stepped up to fund the movie, but they are in bed with game maker Bungie as a licensing partner for the Halo universe. They’ll be pushing all kinds of Halo based merchandise, making it suddenly in their best interests for a Halo movie to happen.

Then there’s Peter Jackson and his company WETA digital. They haven’t given up on the project. In fact, a guy named DB Weiss was hired to, and is presumably still working on a new script based, at least in part, on the version submitted by Alex Garland. Meanwhile, plasma grenade Blomkamp is also still toying with the idea of a Halo movie. By collaborating with the effects team at WETA and Bungie Studios, Blomkamp created the following three, completely awesome, live action Halo shorts to advertise the release of Halo 3. The third one popped up online just this evening, lifted from the Discovery Channel:







The only thing missing from the short is an actual shot of the Master Chief. It could easily be footage from a feature film, and if Blomkamp ever gets the chance to make his movie, well now you know he at least sort of gets it.

For now though, glimpses of what the Halo movie could become is all we’ll get. The movie remains mostly in limbo, with a script of some sort hanging around out there and an entire team of producers, effects artists, and even a director ready to go if someone with mega-deep pockets ever steps up to fund them. As a game, Halo 3 is projected to generate more money than any mere summer blockbuster. Till some studio picks up on all the money they’re missing out on, play Halo 3 and wait for someone to finish the fight.