‘Elysium’ Director Still Wants To Do ‘Halo’ Film

Elysium director Neill Blomkamp still wants to do a Halo film.

Peter Jackson had tried to work with Neill Blomkamp to make a Halo film with Microsoft’s approval, but Microsoft decided they wanted too much control. The film fell through as Jackson moved on.

Since then, Neill Blomkamp has proven his chops with the science fiction film District 9, and is now in the process of filming a movie that rings familiar to the mythos of Halo, Elysium. Elysium features a space colony that orbits a ruined Earth, a freedom fighter wearing advanced technology and toting a big gun, and basically the film seems to want to be Halo.

This isn’t a knock against Elysium, as the film by itself could be one of those movies that reminds us it doesn’t need to have the word “star” in the title to be interesting. While promoting Elysium this week (with a trailer previously reported by The Inquisitr), Neill Blomkamp was asked if he was still interested in doing a Halo film, and his answer was absolutely yes, but with realistic reservations.

However, it is understandable that Microsoft doesn’t want a movie made from their property without their control. Look at the films made about videogames thus far, and you’ll see that they don’t usually do well. In fact, some of them turned out downright lazy and unwatchable.

Mortal Kombat remains one of the best videogame based films of all time, and it was really just a clone of the classic Bruce Lee film Fists of Fury. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was interesting, but much like Mortal Kombat, the sequel destroyed the series. To this day, Resident Evil is the only franchise to actually succeed in the theaters.

Microsoft’s restrictions still keep Neill Blomkamp at a distance, though. Blomkamp says:

“I still really love the world and the universe and the mythology of Halo. If I was given control, I would really like to do that film. But that’s the problem. When something pre-exists, there’s this idea of my own interpretation versus 150 other people involved with the film’s interpretation of the same intellectual property. Then the entire filmgoing audience has their interpretation.”

Basically, Neill Blomkamp doesn’t want to destroy the Halo franchise with a film that doesn’t live up to the expectations of its creator or audience.

What do you think of Elysium director Neill Blomkamp’s views on still doing a Halo film?