Posted by: imm4boss
Posted by: ThePredkiller2
Posted by: Primo84
Plenty of you will probably think I'm a crazy person, but I think the best place to start off a Halo film franchise is Contact Harvest. Before you pull out your torches and pitchforks, hear me out.
The problem all movies based on video games seem to have is mass appeal. If you make it too true to the source material, it many times wont appeal to general audiences, wont bring in enough money, and kind of defeats any studio's incentive to fund it. If you water it down for general audiences, you alienate your core fans.
Anyway, I like to think that we get the latter of those two options more often than not, and the movie just ends up sucking.
To be successful, a film adaptation has to be true enough to its source, and at the same time not make movie executives take their money and run for the hills. There has to be some sort of compromise.
In my opinion, Contact Harvest wouldn't need all that big of a compromise. The beauty of CH is that, while it does take place in the future, it doesn't drop you right into a world of genocidal alien collectives and generically-enhanced super soldiers. Contact Harvest puts you in the shoes of Avery Johnson; while he is later revealed to have undergone some augmentation during the ORION Project, it's not pivotal to CH's plot. Hell, I don't think it's even mentioned.
Anyway, the story starts off with this above average/elite solider who is being deployed fighting who? Terrorists! That's right, terrorists! Can modern audiences sympathize with that without a massive stretch of the imagination? Sure they can! The situation alone sets Johnson up to be a sympathetic character.
Contact Harvest eases the audience into the Halo Universe. It introduces those unfamiliar with Halo without overwhelming them. If successful, it would would likely allow sequels to explore the full depth of the plot without having to compromise as much.
Actually, I agree with this. They can simply call it Halo. Or Halo: Harvest. Then they can come out with a sequel to it, Halo: Combat Evolved. ;)
That IS interesting... naturally, it would set up for further movies fairly well. My only worry is the fact that it could be TOO far back before the actual events on Installation 04. If they made a Harvest movie, logic dictates that a Fall of Reach movie would follow. And including the battle for Installation 04 as the third movie seems a bit far-minded, considering the trouble that went through LOTR becoming a trilogy. Furthermore, there would also have to be Halo 2 and 3 movies as well, making a grand total of five movies. And that's assuming the first one does well, AND the second one. I hate to be so pessimistic, but I've seen too many failed movies modeled after books and video games to count my chickens before they hatch. Ergo, if they make a Halo movie, they should either just jump right into the main story, or do their absolute damndest to exceed beyond expections with a Harvest movie. Thoughts?
I would title them as such:
Halo: Harvest - Contact Harvest
Halo: Fall of Reach - duh
Halo: Combat Evolved - duh
Halo: The Gravemind - First Strike and Halo 2
Halo: Onyx - Halo 3 and Ghosts of Onyx