#10. Peter Jackson’s Halo

Fans of the popular video game wept tears of joy when a Halo film was announced in 2005. Other bodily fluids escaped when it was announced that the Lord of the Rings guy (Peter Jackson) was on board to produce and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) was in talks to direct. But suddenly, in the fall of 2006, both of the studios financing the film bailed out.

Why it didn’t get made: The rumored budget offered about 200 million reasons, with a dollar sign in front. To break even, every single person who bought the last Halo game would have to go see the film version seven times. Also, Microsoft’s deal included demands that Gates & Co. have creative control over the project. If you don’t see why that would be a problem, then you’ve apparently never heard of Microsoft.

Sure, somebody will make a Halo movie some day (Twentieth Century Fox re-acquired the rights in June of 2007), but it won’t be the beautiful love child of Lord of the Rings and Aliens that fanboys dreamed of the moment the heard “Halo” and “Peter Jackson” in the same sentence. It’s more likely come back as a bargain basement $60 million production, most likely with a wrestler in the lead. And no matter how bad it is, the geek crowd will give them a big opening weekend and the studio will make a tidy little profit. Direct-to-DVD sequels will surely follow.

And while we’re on the subject: We won’t be seeing Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit any time soon, either. New Line booted him from the project, their revenge for a lawsuit he brought over some disputed Lord of the Rings profits. Let us grieve for all the great movies that would get made if Hollywood wasn’t full of greedy douchebags.

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