Just reading up on the recent Halo movie hassles on ABC News. Here’s a clip from the piece, and you might want to check out this other post on BloggingStocks, too:

The two studios had agreed to co-finance the projected $135 million project that “King Kong” and “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson was to produce, but they’ve backed out amid rumors that the film’s budget would balloon to more than $200 million, according to a story in Variety.

The story said the studios were expected to make a $5 million upfront payment to Microsoft — the game’s maker — by Oct. 15 and used the time leading up to that date to try to convince Microsoft and the filmmakers to take pay cuts, which they refused.

The article quoted a spokesperson for Jackson and his wife, Fran, also billed as an executive producer, as denying rumors that the budget would exceed the initial amount. Despite losing the backing of Fox and Universal, the spokesperson said that Microsoft is already in talks with other studios, and that preparation on the film continues.

JG