Steven Spielberg is in active negotiations to develop a feature film adaptation of the insansely popular Xbox video game Halo after Stuart Beattie’s script blew him away and Dreamworks (who lost the cash cow of Transformers to Paramount during the recent studio split) egging him on, because they want a top money earner to stake their claim in the industry, according to IESB. 

Spielberg, Beattie and Dreamworks are pushing Microsoft hard to allow them the opportunity to make a Halo movie a reality. 

A film adaptation of Halo has lay dormant for nearly three years now when Peter Jackson and his protage Neil Blomkamp couldn’t get the financing from anyone in town to make an epic movie out of the game. Beattie however wasn’t to be un-done and just kept writing a script anyway. 

Back in March 2008, we reported that he had completed a script entitled Halo: Fall of Reach which was based on the game AND upon the best selling fan fiction novel from Eric Nylund.

My thoughts – well if anyone can get Halo made it would be Steven Spielberg. Peter Jackson couldn’t do it… Guillermo del Toro couldn’t do it… so maybe Spielberg (and maybe a very few handful of others) have the kind of power in the industry to be trusted with the huge amount of cash needed to make a movie like this. 

Would he direct it himself, or has he lost his imagination for a challenge these days? Would he speak to his good friend Peter Jackson about getting Blomkamp back on board – even though Blomkamp himself said he would never make a Halo movie now after spending so many years on it previously, just for it to be yanked away from him. 

Gore Verbinski was having trouble making Bioshock at Universal, would they nab him? Or is this destined to be a MICHAEL BAY PICTURE?!?!?!?!