Universal and Fox have chosen 26-year old music video and commercial director Neill Blomkamp to direct a live action feature film based on the extremely popular Microsoft videogame Halo.   The live action Halo film, which Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are producing and which will feature effects produced at WETA Digital in New Zealand, is now slated for a 2008 release.  In a reversal of the usual Hollywood practice, Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, penned the screenplay for the Halo movie for Microsoft's Bungee Studios.  Microsoft then sold the script and the movie rights together as a package to Universal and Fox for a reported $5 million.

Microsoft has sold more than 14 million units of the Halo videogame and the Halo graphic novel, which was packaged by Bungie Studios and published by Marvel (see 'USA Today Spotlights Halo Graphic Novel'), reached #2 on the BookScan list of graphic novels sold in bookstores -- the highest position achieved by any non-manga, non-movie tie-in graphic novel in years -- a clear demonstration of the strength of the property.