Wanna get more pissed about the Halo movie?

[Wondermonkey]

Here's a sampling of what could have been, had people not been such assnapkins.

Peter Jackson gears up for 'District'
Blomkamp makes feature directing debut
By MICHAEL FLEMING

While their plan to team on "Halo" remains on hold, Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp are going forward this spring on "District 9," a live-action sci-fier that will mark Blomkamp's feature directing debut.

Jackson will produce through his WingNut Films production banner. Blomkamp wrote the script with partner Terri Tatchell.

QED Intl. has committed to fully finance the film through its credit facility with Comerica Bank and Aramid Entertainment Fund, and it will handle worldwide sales. QED Intl. production begins this spring in South Africa, and Jackson's WETA Workshop facility is standing by to provide the visual effects.

CEO Bill Block said that some of the plot particulars will be unveiled for distributors today at AFM.

"We jumped at the opportunity to greenlight this movie with our facility, and we hope to engage selected distributors to be our partners on this," said Block.

Ken Kamins of Key Creatives will exec produce with Block.

Aside from offshore distributors, the surprise project will likely draw interest from studios looking to fill out release schedules with event films beyond the homegrown projects they readied before an expected writers strike.

Neither Block nor Kamins would comment on the budget, but Jackson's sci-fi projects are generally ambitious.

The project grew out of a kinship that developed between Jackson and Blomkamp in New Zealand as they prepped a movie adaptation of the Microsoft game "Halo." Even though that process halted when co-financiers Universal and Fox balked at going forward (Daily Variety, Oct. 20, 2006), Blomkamp never left. Rather, he and Jackson continued to bat around ideas until they agreed on "District 9."

"For the last year, my team and I have had the pleasure of working very closely with Neill," Jackson said. "He has a passion and a command of the language of cinema that will result in 'District 9' fascinating people all over the world."

Blomkamp is best known for directing commercials and short films, and Microsoft recently engaged him to shoot three commercials for the product launch of "Halo 3." Though he grew up in Vancouver, Blomkamp was born in South Africa and will be returning to his homeland to shoot "District 9."

Jackson is now in Pennsylvania, where he just began production on an adaptation of "The Lovely Bones," but Kamins said Jackson will be very active as a producer on Blomkamp's film.

[ZoomZoom71]

OUCH! I'll bet some of the Halo creativity will bleed into "District 9". Hope they leave some for Halo...

[namehater]

wonder if they will have 11yr olds do the voices on this movie...

[Desi Cuse]

Oh Darn....

[BiffCo]

Halo 3 won't go anywhere until the WGA goes off strike. I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

I'm more pissed off about no new Office episodes.

-Brad

[KEEZY]

EXACTLY!

The first 3 seasons will keep me warm for a while.

[Quo]

Guh. Even more disturbing to me is the endless procession of non-filmworthy games that are getting deals done.

Here's the most recent one: Max Payne. I mean, good grief. The game was ok, but filmworthy??? It was totally based on the biggest cliche's in action flicks...! What a waste of time!

I vote Marky-Mark skips this role and plays a grunt in the Halo movie. Or someone who gets his head blown off. Now that's entertainment! (Although I actually don't mind Wahlberg as an actor)

[BiffCo]

Wahlberg is an excellent actor who is under-appreciated in the majority of films he is in. His performance in The Departed was his best yet!

I think Max Payne would make a decent film, but they'd had to stick with the noir style that the game made use of. Ditch that, and it won't do well at all. They should really stick to the story established in the games unlike the Resident Evil movies, which completely sucked in terms of sticking to the original basis set by the games.

-Brad

[D_Litch]

Since the Halo movie's dead, let us focus our attention on PJ's newest movie, The Lovely Bones. I actually bought this book yesterday, only to realize that I can't read. But from what I've smelt online, this source material seems pretty damn good. And Mark Wahlberg is in it. He is a great actor, and anyone who says otherwise is a commie!

[ZoomZoom71]

<--not a commie. I love Mark Wahlberg. He was great in Sniper.

Halo movie FTW!

[D_Litch]

I believe Shooter is the one you're thinking of. The impregnable Tom Berenger was in Sniper.

[ZoomZoom71]

Yes, my bad. Shooter. Thanks.