Finally someone has the ambition and foresight to develop a Halo film project. However don't get too over excited as it will be a digital offering and will no doubt be heading out on XBox, much like the Steven Spielberg Halo series.

The team of companies producing the project do include Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions and also 343 Industries, the company currently behind the Halo franchise, and XBox Entertainment Studios. So it's still not a cinema release yet.

The man tasked with directing the project is Sergio Mimica-Gezzan who has been first assistant director on a number of big Steven Spielberg films as well as some big Hollywood blockbusters. He's also a well-known television director having worked on Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies and Heroes.

So a strong director, a strong production company, and a rich universe from which to create the project. However ultimately it's not heading for the cinema. However, could it?

The story from The Wrap through Collider tells us that Paul Scheuring who created Prison Break is the man currently being looked to for the task of writing and that the project won't be featuring the biggest character from the series, Master Chief. According to the article they believe that the film will follow a surgically enhanced super soldier not unlike the character known to the Halo series but it won't feature the MC.

I find that a little disappointing but not too surprising. If we look back at the problems that plagued the previous attempts to bring to life a Halo film we see that they tended to be two-fold, budget and storyline. Budget is obvious, it has the potential to be a huge project, but the storyline has always been the big sticking point. Microsoft Studios, and now 343 Industries, guard the universe fiercely, and why shouldn't they?

There are games, books, graphic novels, all sorts that follow the rules of the Halo universe closely and the last thing that was needed was a half-hearted film, the first feature on the Halo universe, to damage all that had been created.

By not featuring Master Chief the storyline is already avoiding a very tight fitted and well visited story where the entire potential audience have already seen the character in a whole range of media. What more could a film bring and how could it stand out from the rest of the stories?

With a different character entirely those tight fitted thread paths have been loosened and widened. There's much more scope and potential for developing a story around a brand new character than there is one that's been so well visited by the audience. The project certainly has the potential to be developed into a feature film.

All that said I think the chances are it will be made for the XBox and perhaps head to the Internet too, the chances of a studio picking it up and investing in it are small, they see too much potential to miss the intended audience.

Will a Halo feature film ever get made?