New Halo Movie Script Penned News

The last attempt at a Halo movie under 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios has been dead in the water for a while now, but new hope for a Halo film has arisen from the writer of the Gears of War movie, Stuart Beattie.

Beattie wrote a new script during the writer's strike in Hollywood last year and has since taken his draft to Bungie and Microsoft. Joe Statton, Bungie's Director of Cinematics and the writer of the Halo games, "read it and loved it" according to Beattie, who also stated that he's currently in discussions with Microsoft about the possibility of getting the film made.

As far as plot is concerned, Beattie has been strongly influenced by Eric Nylund's 2001 Halo novel, Fall of Reach, for the storyline of his script:

"I always had this vision of doing Halo: The Fall of Reach, which is a prequel to the first game," Beattie told Game Daily. "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," Beattie continued. "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."