Will Neill Blomkamp direct the HALO pilot?

Whether you love or hate his work so far, you have to admit that director Neill Blomkamp knows how to film one hell of a fight scene. District 9 and Elysium is proof of this, whether it be a pacifistic and desperate Wikus van De Merwe fighting like a meched out Parktown Prawn or shedding that non-violent approach to steal the show in one of several great combat scenes from Elysium.

Before he hit the big time with either of those films though, Blomkamp was earmarked to bring Xbox game franchise Halo to the big screen, a project which eventually fell apart and saw the filmmaker leave.  But it looks like Blomkamp’s vision for that universe may come true after all.

With Microsoft unleashing the Xbox One gaming console last year, one aspect of that device that they wanted to focus on was TV naturally. Cue a big announcement where Steven Spielberg decided to pull a Guillermo Del Toro and involve his hand in producing a Halo series for the console, and fans were finally getting some new Halo content, even if it wasn’t the movie that they had been clamouring for that Microsoft has no intention of ever making.

That means we’ll see several episodes of this proposed show at least, as MS needs to live up to that hype. Enter Latino Review, who reckon that Blomkamp will direct the pilot episode, according to trusted sources close to that site, who are usually bang on the money. That’s a damn good move by Microsoft, because Halo doesn’t need to be the kind of series that is deep on story. It’s all action baby, and after the lukewarm online series that was Forward Unto Dawn, just what the franchise needs to enter the mainstream again.

Blomkamp may have a busy schedule right now with prep work on Chappie, but a TV pilot could be an easier way to finally film something Halo that isn’t a commercial, as well as setting the benchmark for that project.

Last Updated: January 27, 2014