2. The rise and fall of Halo

It was supposed to be a dream teaming – Peter Jackson bringing his clout and film expertise, plus an inspired new talent to a film based on one of the biggest video game sensations of all time: Halo.

But while the idea of turning humanity’s battle with nasty aliens The Covenant had been a hot script all over town, it didn’t quite make it to the screen.

Fox and Universal picked up the rights from game makers Bungie and Microsoft, and quickly set Jackson and Blomkamp to work making it happen.

Months later, however, none of the parties seemed to be in agreement over what it should be, and, more importantly, how much it should cost.

As the budget began to soar, the studios’ feet got colder and colder. Until…

"What happened was this: Universal, on behalf of both studios, asked for a meeting with the filmmakers just prior to the due date of a significant payment," says Peter Jackson’s development executive, Ken Kamins.

"Basically, they said that in order to move forward with the film, the filmmakers had to significantly reduce their deals.

They waited until the last minute to have this conversation. Peter and Fran, after speaking with their producing partners and with Microsoft and Bungie, respectfully declined."

So the months of development that Blomkamp and his team poured into Halo seemed to be wasted.

Well, not entirely wasted… We can thank the ultimate failure of the Halo movie for the birth of District 9.



Neill Blomkamp still credits some elements of the abortive Halo film with District 9’s final look.

“There could have been some stuff that was subconsciously there, but Halo was a very different thing.

“The one thing they have in common was I wanted Halo to be extremely real, like Black Hawk Down meets science fiction.”

Like a phoenix, the new, smaller sci-fi pic burst from the bloated flames of the downed movie.

And it’s all because of Joburg…

Next: Any other ideas?