Microsoft + Hollywood
“Microsoft has signed a deal with two film studios to make a movie based on its popular space-based video game series Halo, Universal Pictures said on Wednesday. Universal and 20th Century Fox agreed to pay Microsoft $5 million plus a percentage of ticket sales. The total price being paid is capped at 10 percent of domestic box-office receipts.
The deal ends months of speculation over which studio would win the right to make a Halo film, which came to Hollywood last spring highly promoted by Microsoft and its representatives at Creative Artists Agency. Messengers delivered a script to the studios wearing costumes and toting laser guns. Under terms of the agreement, Universal will oversee production and domestic distribution, while Fox will handle overseas distribution.
Paul Pflug, a Universal spokesman, said the studios were aiming for a summer 2007 release of a movie based on Halo and Halo 2, a science fiction series about an alien-fighting warrior named Master Chief.”
The above is a report from NY Times. Don’t be surprised if the rules of the content business change dramatically in the future. For example, a successful movie may be turned into a book!
