Vague Halo film reassurance

The Halo film may be on hold, but those of you looking for some incredibly vague reassurance that things will change in the future need look no further than recent comments made by executive producer Peter Jackson in Eurogamer's "second country", New Zealand.

"Jackson said he expected renewed interest from Hollywood studios 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures to have Halo made as the Halo 3 videogame will be released later this year," The Dominion Post actually said. "We wouldn't want to do it with anybody else. It'll be Neill's call," Jackson added, not echoing that at all.

The Halo film has been on hold since October last year when Wingnut Films admitted defeat following Universal and Fox's decision to pull out of the deal they had struck with Microsoft. The film, with a script penned by 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland, was originally sent around Hollywood with a list of weighty demands attached, and it's thought these got in the way.

However things seemed to be going well, with South African director Neill Blomkamp (him wot Jackson mentions above) soon attached, and preliminary work well under way. "Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring," Wingnut Films said at the time of the film's postponement, when it also said: "While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait." Which is more than Jackson said this time around. Tricksy hobbit.