Halo Movie Deal

Halo Movie Deal Signed

August 28, 2005

Movie Deal

Can't get enough of Halo? You'll be happy to hear that Microsoft has just the thing for you. In addition to the much anticipated Halo 3 in development, the software giant has signed a movie deal with Universal and Twentieth Century Fox to make a film based on the popular Halo video game franchise.

The rights to the action-filled outer space world of Halo were sold for $5 million dollars, plus a percentage of ticket sales. The most Microsoft can earn from the deal is a 10% cap of the domestic box office take.

Microsoft had Creative Artists Agency (CAA) representing them as they shopped the license around Hollywood. Hollywood insiders have been watching the deal in progress for months, wondering which studio or studios would land the final rights. CAA even reportedly had costumed, laser-gun-armed messengers delivering scripts to studio players in pursuit of their dream deal. Some studios were put off by the high contract amounts Microsoft originally demanded, but ultimately a deal was struck.

The film, which will be based on a combination of the storylines from Halo and Halo 2 is slated for a summer 2007 release. The film will, of course, star "Master Chief" in his familiar-to-gamers alien-battling endeavors.

Universal will be handling the production of the Halo movie as well as the U.S. marketing and distribution for the film. Twentieth Century Fox will be doing the international distribution for the Halo movie.

The announcement of the movie deal has resurfaced questions about the release date of Halo 3, but Microsoft spokespeople declined to comment and continued to avoid the issue of the much-anticipated Xbox 360 game's release date.

Halo Franchise Sales

The Halo games have been wildly popular with gamers. Halo has sold more than 13 million copies and Halo 2 was an instant success, earning more than $125 million in revenue on its first day on the market. Xbox live numbers show that players have logged more than 387 million hours of Halo 2 gaming time online through the company's multiplayer network. Anyone out there actually doing your homework?

In the Meantime...

Microsoft gaming has announced that the Halo Triple Pack including Halo, Halo 2, and the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack will be out this fall (probably early October) for a bundled price of $59.99. The games are all rated M for Mature, so no doubt the triple pack will have the same rating.

For those who have not actually purchased these games (there are a couple of you out there, right?) the Triple Pack represents a savings of about $20 over buying the three items separately. Hmmm, maybe a good Christmas gift for little brother...