The Oscar-winning director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy will be an executive producer of Microsoft’s ‘Halo‘ movie.
Gaming fans should be delighted to find out that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, fresh from creating the forthcoming King Kong movie, will be executive producers for the movie version of Halo. Microsoft’s video game about soldiers fighting an alien menace called the Covenant drove sales of the Xbox game console when it was released.
MTV reported that the film will be shot in New Zealand, just as Rings and Kong were made. While a screenplay has been created by “28 Days Later” scribe Alex Garland, no director has been selected. 20th Century Fox and Universal, who will distribute the film, are expected to announce a director soon.
Fans may be a bit disappointed that Mr Jackson won’t be in the director’s chair himself, but his influence will be in evidence. “As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring ‘Halo’s’ premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,” Mr. Jackson said in a statement. “I’m a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen.”
The Halo movie has been slated for a 2007 release. Microsoft announced Mr. Jackson’s place as an executive producer during a Xbox event in Amsterdam, where the company disclosed a few of the titles to be available when the Xbox 360 goes on sale in November.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
