Halo to the Chief (Movie out in 2007)

According to film industry pub Variety, Fox and Universal have finalized the deal with Microsoft for the upcoming movie based on Bungie's hit videogame Halo. The movie studios will pay Microsoft $5 million against 10% of the gross. The script, approved by Microsoft and Bungie, was written by Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later; former Columbia president Peter Schlessel is set to produce.

While the financial details had been worked out earlier this summer, the creative control issues were still undecided. As of yesterday Microsoft has extensive "consultation" rights over the project, but is denied approval over elements. Members of Bungie staff will be consulting on the project as well. But Universal has final say.

"Our conversations in the last few weeks focused on the level of collaboration needed to bring this complex property to life," said Peter Moore, marketing and publishing VP for Microsoft's Xbox game unit. "Ultimately, Universal is the expert responsible for making a powerfully commercial movie palatable to our demo."

Fox is to handle the overseas distribution, with profits being split 50/50 between the two.

Fox and Universal are not known to be kind to those who play with their IPs. Will they insist that Red vs. Blue be shut down? Or are they protected under the deal Microsoft struck? Actually what would be awesome is if they ran some episodes before the movie, like they used to in the old days with cartoon shorts. A nod to the hardcore would really go a long way to establish that Universal is serious about game properties.