Despite the enormous theatrical side of our favorite Halo: Combat Evolved, the real interest for most Halo fans wasn’t the struggle between humanity and the Covenant. It was the multiplayer. Sweet, balanced, near-pefect multiplayer action. But did you know that one of Halo’s most important aspects almost never made the cut? Hardy LeBel - who aside from having a fantastic name also worked on the first Halo’s MP (he’s now with Ubisoft working on Far Cry 2) - explains: read more »

Former Gears of War film screenwriter Stuart Beattie sure is trying hard to get a Halo script put into production. What’s looking good so far is this time he has the support of Microsoft and Bungie.

“The Halo movie in its initial incarnation is dead. No one is pursuing it any more,” said Beattie to GameDaily. Beattie’s script, written during the Hollywood writers’ strike, got Bungie’s attention and the writer is now in talks with Microsoft. “I’m just a fan and I desperately want to see a Halo movie out there,” he added.

Beattie wrote the script for fun between film projects on the hopes that someone somewhere will bring it to the silver screen. So far, it’s still only a spec script, but Beattie now says he’s in talks with Microsoft to get the picture made. As we’ve mentioned, the spec is based on the book The Fall of Reach, and as we posted before, it’s about a boy named “John”. After the jump, the scribe lays out the script’s plot in his own words:

It sets up a world 500 years in the future and we have colonies, there’s the UNSC, there’s the secret Spartan training program. And you see this six-year-old kid kidnapped in the middle of the night… The character doesn’t start off as Master Chief. He starts off as John, who’s the kid that’s kidnapped and told he’s going to be a soldier. Anyone can connect with a kid kidnapped from his own home. You’re along for that journey. The Covenant comes along halfway through that movie. That gives you half the movie to really get to know everyone and care about everyone. And then when the Covenant come along, it’s the first time John sees a grunt or a jackal or an elite. The audience is trying to figure out everything at the same time as the characters are. What are these aliens? Why are they killing us? What did we do? And realizing it’s all about this Halo ring. And then ending the movie where the first game begins.

Got any thoughts on how this would make the transition to the silver screen?

Those of you itching for your next dose of Halo fiction, good news is headed your way. Next month Tor Books will announce the sixth book in the Halo series, The Cole Protocol, which will be hitting book stores on November 25th, just in time for the holidays. The new novel, written by Tobias Buckell, reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and delves deeper into conflicts brought about by the Human-Covenant War.
read more »