Financing For Halo Movie In Chaos News

US-based entertainment publication Variety has reported that Halo movie co-financers, Universal and 20th Century Fox, have pulled out of the deal because of concerns over spiralling costs, Microsoft's share of the box office takings, and the signing of inexperienced feature director Neill Blomkamp.

According to the report, Universal approached the subject of reducing Microsoft's 'profit participation' earlier this week, but were flatly turned down by the Redmond firm, subsequently prompting the studio giant's decision to pull out. Microsoft has taken a hardball approach with the movie from the start, which had already pushed many movie studios away from the feature, and today's news shows that they are continuing to do so.

It's not all bad news however, despite the fact that the Halo bubble may have burst in Microsoft's face a bit - pre-production is continuing at Peter Jackson's Weta Digital and Microsoft themselves are in talks with prospective replacements.

If the worst comes to the worst, Microsoft could always foot the whole budget - they're not exactly short of a couple of bob - but having a movie studio on board means that vital credibility is given to the project, never mind the various distribution channels that a deal brings.

We'll have more news shortly...