Source: www.scifi.com

Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox are mulling a deal to co-finance a movie based on Microsoft's Halo video-game franchise, written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later), Variety reported. People familiar with the talks told the trade paper that Universal is leading the way on a deal that would divide the film's cost on a 50-50 basis between Fox and Universal; the former would take international distribution, and the latter would handle domestic distribution. Financial details were still being worked out, the trade paper reported.

Microsoft initially demanded a $10 million up-front payment and 15 percent of the gross; that's believed to have been whittled down to $5 million, the trade paper reported. The company's insistence on a January production start may also be jettisoned and replaced with a promise simply to get the movie into theaters by 2007 at the latest.
Wonder if it'll be live-action or cgi?