05-10-2005, 03:27 AM
Triple-Academy Award® winners Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have been signed as executive producers of Halo®, the forthcoming feature film based on Microsoftâs hugely popular game for Xbox and Windows PC. The movie will be filmed in Wellington, with the pair providing creative counsel on all aspects of the film through WingNut Films. It will make use of the teamâs award-winning production and post-production facilities, including Weta Digital Ltd, Weta Workshop Ltd, Stone Street Studios and Park Road Post, to create the mind-blowing creatures, miniatures and effects Jackson and Walsh are famous for.
Peter Jackson, a gaming fan, said: âIâm excited to bring Haloâs premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality todayâs technology can provide. Iâm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen.â
Jacksonâs involvement isnât the only Kiwi connection to the game, however. One of Haloâs developers is Bungie Studiosâ Chris Butcher, who grew up in Kakanui, a small town just outside of Oamaru.
Microsoft New Zealand product marketing manager Tom Hunt, said: âThis is an incredible announcement, both for Xbox and for New Zealand. Halo is the most popular game on Xbox and has a massive local following, and the character Master Chief has become a cult figure.
âWe canât wait to see the game brought to life on the big screen, and we canât imagine anyone better placed to do this than the legendary team of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.â
Pre-production on Halo will start immediately, with shooting due to begin in May 2006. The film is scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox studios in mid-2007. Acclaimed UK novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) wrote the original feature film adaptation, and a director is to be announced shortly.
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are currently in post-production on Universal Picturesâ King Kong, to be released in December. The console game based on the movie, available on Xbox, is due to be released next month.
Peter Jackson, a gaming fan, said: âIâm excited to bring Haloâs premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality todayâs technology can provide. Iâm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen.â
Jacksonâs involvement isnât the only Kiwi connection to the game, however. One of Haloâs developers is Bungie Studiosâ Chris Butcher, who grew up in Kakanui, a small town just outside of Oamaru.
Microsoft New Zealand product marketing manager Tom Hunt, said: âThis is an incredible announcement, both for Xbox and for New Zealand. Halo is the most popular game on Xbox and has a massive local following, and the character Master Chief has become a cult figure.
âWe canât wait to see the game brought to life on the big screen, and we canât imagine anyone better placed to do this than the legendary team of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.â
Pre-production on Halo will start immediately, with shooting due to begin in May 2006. The film is scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox studios in mid-2007. Acclaimed UK novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) wrote the original feature film adaptation, and a director is to be announced shortly.
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are currently in post-production on Universal Picturesâ King Kong, to be released in December. The console game based on the movie, available on Xbox, is due to be released next month.
