Is the Halo movie in trouble?
Microsoft Corp. said Friday that it would move forward with a movie adaptation based on its popular video game "Halo" after financial backers Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox backed out of the project.
The studios quietly cut their ties to "Halo" this month because of costs associated with the movie, which had a preliminary budget of $145 million, said sources involved in the project who declined to be named. Tensions heightened after the studios failed to persuade the filmmakers, including executive producer Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, to renegotiate their contracts.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant had also refused to take a pay cut demanded by the studios. In the summer of 2005, when the studios signed on to the project amid great fanfare, they agreed to pay Microsoft $5 million upfront for the rights as well as 7.5% of revenue they received from theaters.
The deal guaranteed Microsoft and other key talent payment before either studio made a penny on the movie, scheduled for a summer 2008 release.
One source reported a power struggle between Fox and Universal over control of the movie. Both studios declined to comment.
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