Reports that it was game over for Peter Jackson's Halo movie are being shot down by industry insiders.
Universal and Fox have pulled out of the movie deal but Microsoft and Jackson are reporting business as usual.
"If you remember during King Kong Peter explained how King Kong was gonna be before Lord of the Rings and it fell over and back it came again...it's just part of film making," says Weta Ltd spokesperson Jamie Wilson.
Rumours of a budget blow-out have been denied. Jackson and his producing partners, including Microsoft, claim Universal and Fox asked them to reduce their profit take. They declined, confidant the project is safe.
Recently the game Doom was made into a feature film that barely broke even at the box office.
Some fans in New Zealand have suggested that the difficult transition from game to film could be one of the reasons for Fox and Universal's cold feet.
"When you're dealing with a franchise like Halo, having an established director even involved in it brings it to that level above even a Doom movie or a Tomb Raider. It's not selling on the star, it's selling on the director and the producer," says Armageddon spokesperson Bill Geradts.
Work on Halo is continuing and other studios are said to be
lining up to replace the defectors.
