Halo Movie Confirmed!

[Xantar]

Originally Posted by The Strangler

I really liked 28 Days Later (especially after repeated viewings), but to each their own.

As for making Master Chief a side character... well honestly that would make no sense what-so-ever in terms of marketing the film. Most people who are going to see Halo The Movie wil be going to see Master Chief kick much booty. He is the only real mascot Xbox has, afterall. Not including him as a main character would be like making a Super Mario Bros. movie with Mario and Luigi only making cameos.

Not necessarily. I think we should be careful not to overestimate Master Chief's popularity and influence. Flash a picture of the Master Chief to a random person on the street and what response do you get? Now, show a picture of Lara Croft or Mario or Sonic (you'll probably get more response from Lara Croft due to the movie. You get my point anyway).

Let's face it, as a main character, Master Chief is pretty bland. He doesn't talk much, you never see his face and he doesn't even do anything particularly nifty or cool like run super-fast or kung fu. He's just some genetically modified soldier guy mowing down aliens.

Halo 2 sold some 500,000 units on opening day alone which is mighty impressive. On the other hand, summer blockbusters seek to draw in two or three million people on opening day. "Most" people who are coming to see Halo: The Movie are in fact not going to be there specifically to see the Master Chief (who should probably get a name, by the way). Most of the people in the movie audience probably won't even know who the Master Chief is. They will be there to see an action movie with explosions, aliens, cool weapons and vehicles.

I know you all like Halo and all, but keep a little perspective. In the eyes of the world at large, which is not made mostly of gamers, this is going to be a case of yet another videogame being turned into an action movie with lots of machine gun fire. And it doesn't help that all of Halo's sterling qualities—the balanced weapons, the tight control, the wonderful A.I., Xbox Live—don't translate to the screen at all. All you've got is a faceless, personality-less protagonist (unless the studios make some changes, and they really should) and a story that's frankly pretty generic. And be honest: how many of you were playing Halo 2 because you were ABSOLUTELY DYING to know what happens next?

Or were you eagerly anticipating it because of the Xbox Live capability and the dual wielding?

The movie might make money. It might be entertaining for adolescents. But it won't be any better than any of the other videogame movies if it stays slavishly rooted and faithful to the game.