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Okay, Here's My Take
Posted By: Matt <matt@bungie.com>	Date: 7/1/02 9:06 p.m.
In Response To: Standing by. :) *NM* (Shishka) We don't have anything in particular against movies, or against the idea of games being turned into movies. (For the purpose of this thread, assume that when I say "movies" I'm talking about big-budget Hollywood productions.) Just because it hasn't been done well yet doesn't mean it can't be done. I think the problem is one of perception: videogames are still perceived as light entertainment for the kids. In a certain sense, they're right; the vast majority of videogames, especially the ones that have made the jump to the big screen, are not known for their deep storylines or conceptual brilliance. (Which is not to say those games are not art...) "Videogame movies" load up on high-octane eye candy to sell toys precisely because that's all that's left of most games when you take away gameplay. No one's going to insist that the Mortal Kombat movie compete with Chinatown in the "meaty story" department. They just need lots of fighting. A big part of our reluctance to sell the movie rights to any of our games comes from the knowledge that things would be pretty much out of our hands from that point. The degree of creative control to which we are accustomed disappears once we sell the rights to someone else. To retain that control while making a movie means nothing less than reinventing ourselves as a movie studio. We want to keep making games, so that's out of the question. We'd have to feel confident that a movie would be released (no point in doing the deal otherwise) and that we'd be happy enough with the finished product to have the Bungie name on it. But once it's out of our hands, it's anyone's guess what could happen. Will they be able to interest a brilliant director, screenwriter, DP and a cast of world-class actors in the project? Maybe. It's just as likely, if not more so, that the project would end up as a glitzy-but-ultimately-boring summer popcorn-seller. Or slink out as a poorly-made B-movie that lasts a week in theaters before heading up in the bargain DVD bin a couple months later. Or maybe never get past the script stage. Anything could happen. "Adam Sandler presents Adam Sandler's Halo, an Adam Sandler film starring Adam Sandler." Think about it. A bad movie won't cause global famine or kill anyone's grandma, but it will be around for a long, long time... and as the people ultimately responsible for the intellectual property, a bad movie has the potential to negatively affect us for quite some time. I think there is a qualitative difference between movies made to tell a meaningful story and movies made as high-gloss action-figure commercials. Making one movie that does both is difficult work. Jaws and The Matrix succeeded where Lost In Spaceand Steven Seagal in Out For Justice failed. There's more to it than "the eye of the beholder"; the attitudes, sensibilities and efforts of the people making the movie are (no pun intended) paramount. If they care, you might get something like Jaws - a big-budget summer action movie with a brain and a heart, well-written, well-shot, well-edited, with yeoman actors giving their best and a director who knew what he was doing. (Forgive me, I just reread Carl Gottlieb's The Jaws Log last week.) If they don't care, you get filmmaking-by-focus-group like Rollerball. Regarding Brian's "Halo is Bungie's baby, but babies grow up" argument, all I can say is that you don't willingly leave your baby at the daycare center run by the guy with LIVE TO KILL, KILL TO LIVE tatooed on his forehead. Imagine a magic box. Sometimes you can put a kid in the magic box and he or she comes out handsome and happy, carrying a bag full of money. Most of the time, though, the kid comes out looking like Gary Oldman in Hannibal. Hands up, who wants to put his kid in first? People who work in the film industry are accustomed to handing their work over and watching someone else hack it to pieces, but Bungie has never had to do that and we are (understandably, I think) resistant to the idea. Part of the reason we're like that is because it has worked pretty well for us. We're happy with what we've released, and so are our fans. That collective happiness is a direct result of our quality control, not a reason to throw it away in the interest of shoveling more product at the public. Obviously creative stewardship is important, so we can't hand Halo over to the highest bidder and assume they'll find someone who will take the same care with a movie that we took with the game. Giving Bungie "control" of a movie directed, produced and financed by other people is a noble idea in theory but unworkable in practice. Unless/Until we can find someone who shares our sensibilities, there probably won't be a Halo movie. (Unless you count Charlie's Angels 2: Halo, currently on track for 2003 release. ;-) -Matt

Message Index

Halo The Movie...	Chris Hamilton	6/29/02 10:39 p.m.
Re: Halo The Movie...	evenpar123	6/29/02 11:11 p.m.
Re: Halo The Movie...	NthDegree256	6/29/02 11:33 p.m.
Re: Halo The Movie...	madinsaneIRClokedog	6/29/02 11:49 p.m.
Re: Halo The Movie...	fAllen[Af]	6/30/02 12:10 a.m.
Re: Halo The Movie...	Mr. Bobo	6/30/02 6:41 p.m.
No, No, NO.	Shishka	6/29/02 11:59 p.m.
Re: No, No, NO.	fAllen[Af]	6/30/02 12:12 a.m.
Re: No, No, NO.	Maxxxracer	6/30/02 12:41 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long)	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 2:17 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long)	Shishka	6/30/02 2:36 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long again)	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 4:51 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long again)	Shishka	6/30/02 11:34 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long again)	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 3:45 p.m.
The dreadful pedant strikes again...	Louis Wu	6/30/02 4:16 p.m.
Re: The dreadful pedant strikes again...	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 7:58 p.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long again)	Shishka	6/30/02 7:09 p.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (shorter)	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 8:25 p.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long)	Chris Hamilton	6/30/02 3:41 a.m.
Re: Yes, Yes, YES! : ) (long)-Thanks.	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 4:53 a.m.
Re: No, No, NO.	Mr. Bobo	6/30/02 6:43 p.m.
Re: No, No, NO. (he he )	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 7:56 p.m.
Re: No, No, NO. (he he )	Shishka	6/30/02 9:23 p.m.
Re: No, No, NO. (he he )	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 10:27 p.m.
It was the damn sled! *cough*	Shishka	6/30/02 10:46 p.m.
Re: It was the damn sled!(I liked the snow globe:)	Brian Josselyn	7/1/02 3:15 a.m.
Re: It was the damn sled!(I liked the snow globe:)	Shishka	7/1/02 8:37 a.m.
No, It Was The Script.	Matt	7/1/02 5:50 p.m.
Oh hey! There y'are! Question, Matt?	Shishka	7/1/02 6:09 p.m.
If I may jump in....	Mark Levin	7/1/02 6:19 p.m.
Stand By	Matt	7/1/02 6:34 p.m.
Standing by. :) *NM*	Shishka	7/1/02 7:42 p.m.
Okay, Here's My Take	Matt	7/1/02 9:06 p.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	oldmano'theC	7/1/02 9:15 p.m.
Thanks, Matt!	Shishka	7/1/02 9:32 p.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	vector40	7/1/02 11:04 p.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	Louis Wu	7/2/02 4:05 a.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	Shishka	7/2/02 8:30 a.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	Louis Wu	7/2/02 10:03 a.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	vector40	7/2/02 4:34 p.m.
Re: Okay, Here's My Take	Louis Wu	7/2/02 5:00 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script.	oldmano'theC	7/1/02 6:11 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script.	Uriel	7/1/02 6:22 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script.	Matt	7/1/02 6:58 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script...no one can take a joke	Brian Josselyn	7/2/02 12:40 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script...no one can take a joke	oldmano'theC	7/2/02 12:56 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script...no one can take a joke	Mark Levin	7/2/02 1:59 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script...no one can take a joke	oldmano'theC	7/2/02 2:15 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script.	FrogBlast	7/2/02 2:30 p.m.
Re: No, It Was The Script. (well duh?) : )	Brian Josselyn	7/2/02 12:21 p.m.
OMG I'VE GOT IT!	PanZer	6/30/02 1:50 a.m.
Re: OMG I'VE GOT IT!	Chris Hamilton	6/30/02 3:38 a.m.
Re: OMG I'VE GOT IT!	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 5:00 a.m.
Re: OMG I'VE GOT IT!	Chris Hamilton	6/30/02 6:47 a.m.
Re: OMG I'VE GOT IT!	Brian Josselyn	6/30/02 3:50 p.m.
How about...	vector40	6/30/02 4:05 a.m.