Posts with tag peter jackson
Posted May 30th 2007 3:45PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Halo 3
The
Halo movie has been through its share of ups and downs. Fans will recall that Universal and FOX
backed out of the picture some time ago. Speaking to Stuff.co.nz, Peter Jackson, previously brought on as producer of the film, said that he expects Universal and FOX to show renewed interest in the film after the release of
Halo 3. Given the game's staggering
pre-order numbers, he might be right. Also noteworthy, Jackson states that he won't produce the film without Neill Blomkamp, whom Jackson chose based on his short film work.
What do you think, fanboys? Has
Halo missed its chance at Hollywood success, or will
Halo 3 spark a renewed interest?
[Via Joystiq]
Posted Mar 7th 2007 7:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, GDC '07
During Microsoft's annual Blogger Breakfast at GDC (which Richard will be writing about soon), our Joystiq blogging army received some interesting news. During the breakfast, Shane Kim revealed that Peter Jackson is currently in the pre-production phases of two episodic games for the Xbox 360, with one being based on the (previously announced)
Halo universe. When hearing the news, everyone jumped at the chance to pry more information from Shane's lips, but he refused stating "
I may have said too much already". So there you have it folks, two episodic games coming from Peter Jackson. Anyone want to speculate to why Jackson chose to go with episodic content rather than a stand alone game? So many questions and so much waiting ...
Posted Feb 17th 2007 6:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Halo 3
If you haven't had your fill of
Halo 3 news this week, then check out MTV's video interview with Microsoft's GM of publishing of first party titles Phil Spencer. Phil talks about everything
Halo related including Peter Jackson's upcoming project,
Halo Wars, and the
Halo 3 beta. He discusses where they are at with all their projects, how involved they are with Mr. Jackson, how the
Halo Wars RTS came to be, and gave us no news on the beta that we didn't already know. It's good to hear about the status of the other
Halo projects as it looks like we'll be hearing about
Halo Wars in the near future. RTS FTW, SS! (For those of you who aren't l33t, that translates to "real-time strategy for the win, super sweetness!")
Update 1: Corrected our source and video links.
[Via 2old2play]
Posted Oct 31st 2006 9:30AM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Halo 3
Sad news today for
Halo fanatics, the movie has been officially postponed. The postponement stems from Fox and Universal recently
pulling out of the project. It's worth noting that the production team is still fully behind first time feature director, Neill Blomkamp. Here is the official statement:
"As was previously confirmed, we deeply regret that both Universal and Fox did not choose to move forward with financing the Halo film under the original terms of the agreement. At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen. We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp's vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait."
Whether or not you believe it when corporations say that they're "doing it for the fans," it's heartening to note that the movie is
not canceled (though AICN isn't so sure). Then again, oftentimes, movies that take forever to develop eventually fall flat (
D&D, anyone?). At any rate, we'd speculate that you won't see any
Halo movie before 2008. But hey, at least they're finally rolling out
new info about
Halo 3, right?
[Thanks, Paul]
Posted Oct 22nd 2006 7:00PM by Ken Weeks
Filed under: News, Halo 3
Bungie opens their weekly update by posting Microsoft's official response to Universal/Fox's decision to drop the
Halo movie following a failed attempt at an 11th hour shakedown:
"We are disappointed that Universal and Fox wanted to significantly renegotiate the financial points of the deal. But the Halo franchise is hugely popular and our goal remains the same - to find a partner that shares our passion and will creatively collaborate with us to best represent the story and spirit of the Halo franchise. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the rest of the creative team are dedicated to ensuring the Halo movie becomes a reality. We are already in discussions with potential partners who recognize the value of the Halo brand and its appeal to consumers worldwide."
The Bungie team themselves remain highly optimistic that a less stingy and more creatively aware financial partner will be found in short order. Yes, when the Hollywood bean counters who practically ruined the
Fantastic Four and
X-men 3 back out of your movie deal, it's a good thing.
Posted Oct 20th 2006 10:30AM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
Variety, paragon of gaming news, is reporting that Fox Studios and Universal have pulled funding for the
Halo movie. Hearing the nightmare chorus of fanboys screaming, "Why God? Why!?" into the heavens, I can only give you one answer. Money. Amid rumors that the film's budget would reach $200 million -- originally projected at $135 million -- the studios demanded at the last minute that the filmmakers reduce their deals. This demand was also made in light of the fact that Microsoft had already been promised $5 million up front
and 10% of the gross.
This turn of events has led some to speculate that
Halo's director -- newcomer
Neill Blomkamp -- is too inexperienced. This was, however, dismissed by
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's representative, Ken Kamins,
"Everybody is supremely confident in Neal [sic].
Part of what excited Peter and Fran was Neal's [sic]
vision. We're very confident this film will move forward with the creative partners intact, who will take the film to production."
We're a little concerned that
Variety managed to misspell both Neill's name
and Bungie Studios' name (they spelled it Bungee), but hey, that's Hollywood for you. So, with
Halo's fate hanging in the balance, how do you feel? Did you even care about it the first place?
[Via Joystiq]
Posted Sep 27th 2006 4:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News
The most awkward moment of today's X06 press briefing may also have been the most profound. We are of course talking about the moment that Peter Jackson took the stage to massive applause. While PJ -- we call him PJ -- looked a little nervous talking in front of so many people, what he announced could turn out to be one of the biggest announcements for the video game industry this year.
Continue reading X06: Two new Halo projects announced (w/ Peter Jackson!)
Posted Sep 15th 2006 6:50PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Halo 3
There's an interesting
Halo movie interview with Peter Jackson on the love it or hate it movie site, Ain't It Cool News. The interview focuses both on Peter's choice of
Neill Blomkamp as the
director and the importance of the script. Speaking on Blomkamp's nomination, Jackson admits that hiring a "new" director wasn't the plan, but that Blomkamp was simply the best choice.
"It's not deliberate and certainly for HALO
it wasn't deliberate. I don't think even for a show like HALO
, which is a big budget production, I don't think there's any problem whatsoever with a so-called first time director directing it. At the end of the day, Neill (Blomkamp) is not a first time director. He's a first time feature film director, but he understands film and grammar as good as anybody. He's done some wonderful short films and commercials. His visual eye is fantastic and his storytelling is great. The fact that it's a feature film just means that he gets to shoot for longer than he did in the short film. There really isn't anything else that's different."
Speaking of his personal involvement with the script (along with Lord of the Rings alumni Fran Walsh and Filippa Boyens), Jackson had some very encouraging words.
"The movie, as far as I'm concerned, as far as my involvement is concerned, is not going to go in front of the cameras until we have a really great script."
God, let's hope so. The interview is full of good stuff, and anyone interested in
Halo should definitely check it out.
[Thanks, Doug Kriz]
Posted Aug 9th 2006 7:15PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Halo 3
Posted Jul 12th 2006 1:30PM by Richard Mitchell
Filed under: News, Halo 3
Movie website Dark Horizons has a tiny snippet of info regarding the
Halo movie: Denzel Washington is rumored to be up for the role of Master Chief. The rumor is one sentence long, halfway down the page, and has no source listed:
"Latest rumours have Denzel Washington as the favourite for Master Chief."
If there was an article associated with this headline, it has since been removed.
My take: I don't know about Denzel being the Chief. Personally, I think that role should be filled by an unknown. However, I do think Denzel would make an excellent Sgt. A. J. Johnson.
[Via Xboxic, kudos to YLA G for the picture]
Posted Feb 23rd 2006 4:00PM by Christopher Grant
Filed under: News, King Kong
In the sixth installment of Yahoo's unfortunately titled Hollywood Byte column, John Gaudiosi talks with Peter Jackson himself about his involvement with video games. He specifically asks him about the possibility of a sequel to King Kong, taking advantage of the alternate ending where Kong makes it back to Skull Island safe and sound. Jackson responded, "I have been in discussions with Michel Ancel and the Montpellier team, but there is nothing to share at this point in time."
The article illustrates just how in touch Jackson is with games; he gets it, thoroughly. Video games have long suffered as promotional filler for their more important cinematic counterparts. Now we have an Academy Award winning director working on a cinematic adaptation of a game! He says:
"I'm excited that with the new hardware and such amazing leaps forward in technology, I may be able to experience games that even I can't imagine... I have such admiration for the video game development process and the talent behind these games, that giving them more tools, better hardware, and more budget will only lead to more fantastic adventures."
See also:
Peter Jackson visits Bungie, talks shop
Posted Feb 10th 2006 1:00AM by Christopher Grant
Filed under: Halo 3, Fan stuff
Peter Jackson recently visited with Bungie, ostensibly to talk about the upcoming
Halo movie he's producing, but surely also to jam a couple rounds on
Halo 3 (even though nothing's been announced yadayadayada). Here's what Bungie's Frankie had to say about the visit:
"...a week or two ago, our new building was graced by the presence of one Mr. Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, Heavenly Creatures, Meet the Feebles and more. In short, a genius. You may or not know that he is also signed up as executive producer on the forthcoming Halo movie. Mr. Jackson was not only nice enough to come visit, but also to pose for a photo with the entire Bungie crew... So to summarize, a famous director came to a building and got mobbed by rabid fanboys, many of whom are in their twenties and thirties."
I have a feeling PJ might have been geeking out a little bit as well. I imagine a mutual appreciation society.
[Via 360Monster]
Continue reading Peter Jackson visits Bungie, talks shop
