Stuart Beattie, more recently known as the man who penned Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, loves Halo so much that in his free time he wrote a script adapted from the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. This much we knew already. Recently, Beattie mentioned that he is in talks with Microsoft about getting his movie made, and went to further detail the plot of his script. Short version; it's about a boy named "John". Long version; hit the Read More link.
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.
So it's a prequel, eh Beattie? We've been burned by those before, but considering the epic drama of the Space Marines, the Covenant, the Flood, and the Halo rings has never been on the silver screen before, it might be a good place to start the story. It sounds like a great concept, but so much was lost when the Halo movie was scrapped by the studios who refused to raise the budget to meet the artistic vision of Peter Jackson, his writing/producing/life partner Fran Walsh, and visionary director Neil Blomkamp. Can this new script kick the dust off and get production rolling again? We will just have to wait and see.
