With Universal and Fox permanently crossed off their possible partners list, Microsoft is back out pounding the Hollywood pavement looking for new studios to fund their Halo movie project. They're unwilling to settle for anything other than big money, so they'll need big partners to make it happen.

They can't go to Sony Pictures, since Sony is the home of Microsoft's direct gaming console competitor the Playstation. They can't go to Disney, since Apple CEO Steve Jobs is Disney's biggest shareholder, and Jobs and Gates aren't exactly friends. Apple's rivalry with Microsoft is almost legendary. They can't go to New Line, because apparently the company is still in a tangle with Halo executive producer Peter Jackson over money they owe him for Lord of the Rings.

That really just leaves Warner Brothers and Paramount as possible partners, and Variety says that for now, that's where focusing all of their pitching efforts. With their options few, Microsoft really needs to sell one of those two studios. It's not like they can go to an indie like Magnolia Pictures for $150 million dollars.

But the bad news is that those studios are hesitant to get involved. Warner Brothers and Paramount getting tight-fisted, and they're balking at the movies $128 million dollar budget. Universal and Fox dropped the movie because Microsoft refused to budge on their massive budget. Now it looks like the only way they'll get the movie made at all is to do a little budget bending.

Here's my question. This is Microsoft we're talking about. If they believe in the film, why aren't the funding the damn thing themselves? It's not like they don't have the money. Bill Gates has $128 million in the magazine rack next to his toilet. I love how determined they've been to get this movie done right, no matter how hard they have to fight to do it. I'm just saying stop fighting. Take whatever money WB or Paramount will offer and fill in the gap yourselves. Unless you're not sure it'll make it back, in which case you can't expect others to believe in the film if you don't believe in it yourselves.