Jackson gets new blockbuster project
6, 2005 - 3:16AM
Oscar-winning New Zealand director Peter Jackson and his screenwriter wife Fran Walsh have been signed as executive producers of a multimillion-dollar special effects-driven film version of the Halo video game.
Work is to begin immediately on the film which is based on the Microsoft Corporation's best-selling sci-fi video game.
Jackson's Miramar studios, including his new Stone Street Studios, visual effects companies Weta Digital and Weta Workshop and post-production facility Park Road Post will be used for the filming.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates described Jackson as "one of Hollywood's most exciting innovators". "We're confident he'll create an epic," he said.
Halo will be a shot in the arm for Wellington's economy as it is likely to employ several hundred people.
Jackson's The Lovely Bones is the only other Hollywood film scheduled to be filmed in the New Zealand capital in the next two years.
Halo backers Universal Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Gates' Microsoft have yet to announce its budget. But they said it would be more than the estimated $US70 million ($A92 million) Universal spent adapting another sci-fi video game Doom to the big screen.
No details were announced on what Jackson and Walsh would be paid, but Variety magazine said yesterday it believed they could get as much as $US9 million ($A11.7 million).
Filming will take place in May and June next year and, as with The Lord of the Rings, it will include locations outside Wellington. It will be released in mid-2007 and is touted as one of the biggest films of the year.
Halo is the first big-budget film in which the Oscar-winning Jackson is executive producer and is a sign of his clout in Hollywood since his success with The Lord of the Rings.
The film's director will be announced in the next few weeks and its stars at a later date.
"As a gaming fan, I'm excited to bring Halo's premise, action and settings to the screen," Jackson said.
"Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers . . . I'm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen."
Jackson, busy completing King Kong, was not available for further comment.
Microsoft will be paid $US5 million ($A6.5 million) and 10 per cent of United States box office sales for Halo.
The Dominion Post
Also on the bungie site, so pretty solidly confirmed.
http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=biggorilla&p=4955829
quote:Originally posted by LiveWire
sorry if i sound cynical but i found Halo to be nothing but greatly overhyped stock-stnadard FPS
I seccond that!
For a hugely popular game.. theres not really alot to it that should make it any more better then most FPS.
It's a fun game to play... but it's not what the hype tells us it is.
It's an FPS that works on a console better than on a PC. That's still rare IMHO.
This post sort of jumped up and down at me when I read it:
http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2005/08/read_the_tealea.html
Jackson doing Halo with Weta on effects filmed in exotic locations throughout New Zealand? Cool!
I just hope Fran can come up with a worthwhile script that stands above the average game to movie flop. But at the very least we know Jackson?s the right man for some cool action sequences.
Hmmm, Lord of the Rings in space? Oh wait, that?s Star Wars?
yeah you can bet cortex or cortes or whatever her name is will be far to sexually aroused for an AI program, that's the way it works in hollywood and games - and especially in game/movie cross-overs. that's probably not what you meant by "porn type scripts" but think about it: resident evil, tomb raider, mortal kombat - the women weren't on screen for their acting ability, and their personalities and dialog had little to do with character or plot development.
on another note: lets not forget, jackson is only producing - not directing.
with Jackson on board, it's sure to have some quality to it, though how much you can get from a cliche space marine in a rediculious suit i don't know...