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Gears of War the Harbinger of a Halo Movie?
We talked earlier today about Gears of War getting a director, and as usual whenever we talk about video game movies, two things come up in the comments.
Video Game Movies always suck.
I just wish they would make Halo
Now for a while Halo was a forbidden topic around these parts as it tended to send John into a tirade that would rival Michael Richards (without the racial contant) but I actually think that Gears of War moving ahead with a movie might be good for Halo fans.
It’s pretty clear why the Halo project died. Both Universal and Fox Studios have pulled out of the Halo movie adaptation, claiming raising budget costs and lack of faith over the inexperience of first time director Neil Blomkamp.
Now mark my words, the brainpans behind Halo might have said its over, but I bet they are keeping a close eye on developments with Gears of War. If there is any hope of success for Halo, they want to be the ones to do it. Its over, but its not “over”.
The Budget – The drive behind any movie being made all depends on how much they figure they can make and how much it will cost. Jackson was in it for the “art” of making a film (yeah right) and unfortunately they people signing the cheques did some math and said “Sorry pal. No dice” So as Gears of War is going through its paces, you want to bet the studios are going to pay attention to how much money they are spending on this.
The Audience – In trying to predict how much money you could concievably make they have to hope they can get people in the seats. It’s no doubt that Halo is the strongest gaming franchise on the market with a rabid following of dedicated fans. They are out there. But will they go to a movie. Gears of War is hoping its fanbase shows up in droves, and if it does, you know the studios will be paying attention… “If Gears can do it.. Imagine Halo?? What are we waiting for?”
But people still want this movie made and that is just one ingredient in the vast Hollywood Machine. If it is going to be made then mark my words, there are eyes on Gears of War. The success of Gears of War could impact the greenlight of a Halo Movie more than you would think.
Gears of War is the closest thing to a Halo movie we are going to see in the near future. They are both based on first person shooter games that follow a cinematic style storyline. And the target demographic has a HUGE overlap.
My prediction: If Gears of War is even a moderate success, a Halo announcement won’t be far behind.
Please God, let them make both of these, and let them not be hackish and terrible like they always are.
OK, apparently I missed the Wiseman post a little ways down…
Damn you, God!
I don’t want a Halo movie. You KNOW they’ll make Master Chief take the helmet off, and I can imagine the internet crashing from all the pissed-off fanboys bitching simultaneously.
One of the reasons (main ones) is that Microsoft wanted 20% of the gross, and the production company wouldn’t agree to that. Microsoft was unwilling to negotiate the amount, so it ended. Hopefully this will do well enough that they might change their minds.
Steven, MS wanted 10% of the profits and $5m up front. Not 20%.
And the straw that broke the camel’s back was Jackson insisting on sticking with Blomkamp. MS said they would negotiate if he offered up a realistic name for director (even do it himself) but he refused.
They were both stubborn on their demands. Thats how negotiations fail. Both sides have to be unwilling to move. Sadly for Halo fans MS owns it and they wanted a guarantee to get paid or they just wouldn’t do it. Its just business.
If it where me I would make both of these game to Movies in CG. Why? Because the movie(s) are going to be based on video games and what would make more sense? I mean they haven’t used real people in video games since those old Command & Conquer PC games. You could have the characters do so much more in a CGI film than they could do is a real person.
Then again with the advancements that the people (i.e. Industrial Light and Magic) are coming out with, it’s no surprise that they would used real people.
And on the topic of bad video game movies, I think it’s because they don’t sit down and study the entire game. They just find one thing that they like about the game and run with that idea.
@Rodney. There was an article over at Variety today that mentioned Microsoft wanting 20%. Was it wrong perhaps then? I e-mailed John about it, though I gave it a title from another site that mentioned renegotiating with the Director of Justice League.Perhaps they used old info in their article. Hopefully both will get made eventually. I have never played Halo myself, but know people who have. It sounds interesting.
No Rodney you are 100% wrong about Halo movie depends on the success of Gears of War.
You see there is this movie coming next year called Prince of Persia which I think with Jerry Bruckhemier name and harry potter 4 director will become the surprise boxoffice hit of summer 2009.
That will convince studios to do Halo because we all know Halo is much more popular than POP.
Case closed.
Case not closed Don. The demographic that will want to see a movie based on an RPG video game is totally different than the first person shooter action crowd.
Prince of Persia is a story driven RPG. Very different from a shooter based movie.
Sadly Don, I played Prince of Persia more then I played Halo (It got boring).
But yes, Bruckheimer is going to produce this film. But I wouldn’t be so coy as to say that Prince of Persia will be the defining factor in convincing a studio to make the Halo movie. You would have to have more than just one good Video Game movie to convince the Exec’s to fund another one that could easily flop. They would have to see a continuous streak of good Game to Movie adaptions before they would sign anything that would have to do with the creation of the movie.
“They are both based on first person shooter games that follow a cinematic style storyline.”
Isn’t “Gears” a third person game? Thats why I never bought it.
“Prince of Persia is a story driven RPG.”
Er.. No it’s not. It’s an action adventure platformer. There aren’t really any RPG elements in it.
Oh btw Rodney Gears of War is NOT first person shooter game.
Halo is an FPS game and has tons of story to tell. If you have ever read the novels then you will see what I mean.
Gears of War doesn’t have much of a story but it has an awesome concept which they can expand and from what I know it will be a prequel to the 1st gears game.
Gears isnt first person, its third. I know. But it still caters to the same genre, and has the same target audience.
Halo’s story is less cinematic than Gears, however it still does have “a story”. RPGs are more story driven instead of kill-it-and-take-its-treasure sort of shootem up like Halo.
Regardless of the fact that Gears is a 3rd Person Shooter, regardless of the fact that the Halo movie had several roadblocks that lead to it’s end, and regardless of Prince of Persia being primed to be a huge summer blockbuster…
Gears of War and Halo, in the gaming world, are very closely entangled. They are the two primary shooters in the videogame world with sales, reviews and fanbases that most publishers would die for.
The two films would be heavy-duty action films, and that distances the two from Prince of Persia, which will most likely be a “District B-13″ meets “Aladdin” type movie.
It’s true. If Gears of War does well at the box office, the most comparable game the executives will be looking at, with good reason, will be Halo. In terms of popularity and fanbase overlap, it’s extremely easy to see why the success of Gears would impact Halo’s movie.
Oh wow.
I Don’t Know, with all of Hollywood coming out with all those crappy Video Game Movies. I think maybe they realized that Uwe Boll isn’t going to stop making movies so maybe they should finally start to make them better. So that they can Beat Uwe Boll to the rights of the film before he can ruin another one.
Why does John hate Halo?
Bungies deffinitly going to be eyeing this project.
If my last post duplicates sorry I had some technical problems.
If not then Never mind…:-)
I really like the Halo game and have all three but the storyline is boring as hell and the characters suck I still dont see why people want to see this film made so bad
Here is why video game movies suck. Look at the director, the writer, and the producer of the video game movies that have been made. They usually aren’t quality. It’s all about talent. You get talent behind one of these video game movies and they could be just as good as some of the comic book adaptions. Prince of Persia with Brukenheimer producing, Mike Newell Directing, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio writing, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, and Alferd Molina Starring. I think you’ll have your first huge blockbuster based on a video game next summer. After that happens I think you’ll see a flood of video game adaptions with some serious talent behind them.
John doesn’t hate Halo, he hates the circumstances surrouding it. The ludicrous demands Jackson made while coming down from his LotR buzz, the hack no body director, the unreasonable budget, and both sides being unreasonable in their negotiations.
It fell apart because they wouldnt play nice. They were not in it to make the movie, they were all in it to make the money, and because of that they didnt get to do anything. There just wasn’t enough money to meet all their demands.
Gears of War will bomb if it gets made. Mark my words.
Why cant anyone see video games arnt mean to be movie. How lame will a halo movie be let alone a gears of war film which is already played out to be over the top and cinematic
Bruce, they used to say the exact same thing about comic book movies.
I agree with J Son. I don’t think it’s that all video games MUST suck, but the talent pool that’s gone after them before has been pretty mediocre. I think it’s akin to the sorry state of comic book movies before the Spider-man/X-Men explosion. Sure you had Donner taking on Superman and Burton on Batman, but these even seemed like anomalies at the time. Now it’s common place to see A-level talent on comic book adaptations.
I think it’s also analogous because it took some time for studios to figure out that fans wanted their comic books ADAPTED into movies, not shoehorned into pre-existing formulas. There seems to be a lot more respect for the source material now than there was in the 90s.
As for Halo, I’ve been a fan since the first game. It was actually the first FPS I really gained a connection with. I won’t be too much of a fanboy about it, but I actually think it could be a special movie with the right talent associated. And it’s not necessarily because the story is spectacular. But the design and mythology in the Halo universe is really deep enough for the right director (and writer) to draw from. I like Stuart Beattie’s pitch. If you played through the first game, then you know there’s a fun little Aliens-style space marine story that could definitely translate well to the big screen. I’m hesitant about what I’ve heard from interviews with Bungie, though. Apparently Master Chief would NOT be the main character, strictly because they want to avoid taking the helmet off. I say stick a David Prowse sized guy in the suit and have him kick some ass.
Yeah Rodney, I was never excited about Jackson doing this film ether.
^
I have a feeling if (Gears of War) is a HUGE hit Bungie/MS will attempt a Halo movie.
Btw, all us gamers know
(Bungie claims their not doing a halo 4 but they are).
Gears of War could be a dark aliens type of film.
I don’t know why some people get all worked up over video game inspired movies.
I would hope people would get more upset about all these lame tv show remakes.
Resident Evil-3 and Doom were very cool.
And they don’t cost 60 bucks to watch.
Blomkamp may have been green, but you can’t doubt that the man had vision.
He’s a South African Zack Snyder. He’ll do greater things than a Halo film, just you wait.
We are not holding our breath Silenus
I’m just saying, Zack Snyder came out from nowhere after directing commercials and suddenly found himself remaking Romero, and now making The Watchmen. Stranger tales have happened in Hollywood.
And here’s one right here! Zack Snyder has gotten WB to have some Dutch commercial director, Matthijs van Heijningen, direct Army of the Dead.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/06/tv-commercial-w.html