Undeterred by this, Microsoft sent out messengers on Monday dressed as the hero of the franchise, Master Chief, to the offices of several Hollywood studios. Once there, each Master Chief dropped off a copy of the script, which has been penned by British author Alex Garland (author of The Beach and 28 Days Later), who reportedly received a cool $1 million for his efforts.
Like all the best divas though, Microsoft's demands are being seen as unreasonable by studios. According to Hollywood rag Variety, Microsoft have insisted that studios commit to a $75 million budget before taking into account the wages of the actors and crew involved. As well as this, the Seattle-based corporation are asking for a $10 million advance against 15 per cent of the movie's gross takings.
It's not only the financial implications of the deal that are putting buyers off however, as Microsoft have also insisted on retaining a considerable degree of creative control. This, argue Microsoft, is so that the movie doesn't conflict with the rest of the carefully-constructed Halo universe, which has so far been depicted only in the games and a series of books.
According to Variety, it's this list of demands that has seen the likes of New Line and Dreamworks drop out of the running for the project, while the Sony Pictures group has been excluded from the bidding due to the rivalry between Microsoft and Sony on the videogame front.
All is not lost however - Variety reports that there's a number of 'potentially interested' studios. Either way, they'll have to make their minds up soon - Microsoft is reportedly keen to have filming underway by January 2006, so the film is ready to launch alongside the Xbox 360's Halo 3, which Bill Gates has already promised will arrive to coincide with the launch of Sony's rival PlayStation 3 console.
Loading...
