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Worth Watching: Awesome Live-Action Halo 3: ODST Trailer

by Alex Billington
September 6, 2009
Source: IGN

Instead of featuring a normal trailer for a movie today, I thought I'd feature this amazingly badass trailer that Bungie / Microsoft made for Halo 3: ODST, the latest Halo game out in a few weeks (Amazon). This is exactly why I would love to see a full-on live-action Halo movie. They really should just hire the guy who made this and give him $200 million, a good script, and let him at it. I would love to see 2 hours of the kind of action seen in this. And although I know this is less than two-minutes, it's stories like this that could be the basis for a great screenplay set in the Halo universe. Anyway, if you haven't seen this yet, check it out!

Original video file comes from IGN, but embedded above thanks to MySpace. This trailer was directed by Rupert Sanders, an up-and-coming filmmaker who also directed the awesome Wolverine video game "Captivity" Commercial and landed his first Hollywood gig to direct Leo DiCaprio's The Low Dweller. Now that we know Peter Jackson and specifically Neill Blomkamp are no longer working on the Halo movie, maybe Microsoft will consider giving someone like Rupert the reigns, as he definitely has some incredible filmmaking talent. Come on Microsoft, let Sanders (or someone) make a Halo movie, I'm dying to see it!

Filed under Cool Stuff, Opinions, To Watch

From around the web:

qweqwu

holly fuck, nice cgi
sumonesumtime

That's tough.
Joe Ho

Holy shit. I agree with the article. Give the guy a crap load of money and he'll give you a movie that'll make the same amount plus another 0 or two slapped on the end. That was epic.
cat

These guys should do the halo movie because that's exactly what I would like to see if they did a Halo movie. That shit was badass!
Cody

O wow...I did not see that coming. We NEED a HALO movie and we need it now. That was an amazing 90 seconds.
Andrew

I was always skeptical about a Halo movie, thinking it'd end up like Doom and every other cruddy video game movie. But if it were anything like this trailer, I'd be all over it.
luishungry

seriously... that has to the BEST tease ever. make this 2 hours long and i would watch this on IMAX right away. microsoft needs to get off their asses and make a quality script and start production ASAP before the Halo-mania dies down.
Nate

That was great!
Perturabo

wow, amazing!
Ricardo

Give this guy a medal and a crap load of money
WB EXEC

The person who does the HALO movie should treat it like Chris Nolan treated Batman, take it seriously. Then you give the studios notice that these films can be done right, much like TDK. Infact let the Nolan brothers tackle Halo
Greg

According to a few sources, on Monday Sept. 7, SPIKE TV will be airing the full 2 minute 30 second trailer. Here's a blurb from the Team Xbox website with all the details: "Halo fans in the United States will be treated to a special, extended two minute 30 second version exclusively on Spike TV on Monday September 7. The extended version will premiere during “Band of Brothers” at 10:30 PM ET/PT. "
http://thetylerhayes.com/ Tyler Hayes

It doesn't seem that a Halo movie is too hard when you watch commercials like this, but maybe that's because it's more difficult to fail at telling a story in 90 seconds than in 7200 seconds. It is cool to see former commercial & music video directors like Blomkamp and Spike Jones making effective (not necessarily great, there's a difference) movies now, though. This commercial looks, sounds, and feels as thought its director was obsessed with The 13th Warrior while making it; not that that's a bad thing, but it sure goes to show how different Halo could turn out based on the director. On that note, I'd suggest others go back and watch the Halo 3 teaser during the Superbowl that was live action, on top of Blomkamp's internet promo "Arms Race" ads of course. But still, this trailer is badass.
darkstar083

... damn.
Big Red Moose

I know nothing of Halo and am pumped if this turns into a movie. The production design and detail were incredible. Best "fake" trailer sincce Machete.
Stevo

sigh... halo... sigh.
Nick S.

ya know i still liked Neils shorts better but this does have a lot more of an emotional draw to it. totally kicked ass-as a fan boy i go nuts for this kinda stuff!
movie mike

OMG that was awesome
RC

I really don't care for Halo, but that was a pretty awesome commercial.
Vandessa

What I noticed, that was wonderful, is the lack of dialogue (save for ambiance and what have you). A full Halo movie done in pantomime with no meaningful dialogue to speak of would be amazing.
http://vimeo.com/user1764245 Nick Sears

Probably the best live action commercial for a video game... ever
Tra la la la la di da

Halo is just Starship Troopers and many other Sci-fi movies and people know it, well, generally. Fanboys can't see past the fact Halo isn't that deep, the general story line that is. A story line that would be used for the movies. Hollywood knows this and they've seen failures so I think it scares them. The commercials and everything else have always been awesome for such titles as mentioned, it's easier to tell a story in 90secs opposed to 7200. It's not just the story, they have to stay away from campyness, not make it all action, but keep a plot. With a plot you then need to weed out what's important and what's not. There are a lot of factors and everyone keeps saying good script, well duh, that's a problem. Visually the movie would be fine but a good script and not to mention I think they'd go for at least 2hrs so a good long script. It's kinda nice, if it's happening, they're taking their time. The books though read very well and it's why Watchmen was so great because it was word for word. page for page, from the book, just shorter. Normally they hack everything up so much to "make it their own" it becomes crap. Why can't they just copy a book? JP is the best example of how bad the movie is compared to the book which is 10x better easily. Here's to hope.
KARUB1989

WOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW....that was Epic....!!!!!!
http://www.barnabybarrilla.com Barnaby Barrilla

This was brilliant... I guarantee the movie will now be made simply because of this. It's always easier to see the vision of something if you see something about it. Better than I expected too and I can't wait!
fuking awsome

thats was the most epic trailer i ever saw great fuking trailer this guy should make the halo movie isnt the guy who wrote for gi joe writing the script
http://thetylerhayes.com/ Tyler Hayes

Spot on at #22 (Tra la la? Gunther fan?). I'm guessing that's why Bungie is making a sequel (prequel, really) to Halo 3 called Halo: Reach, which will likely follow the book's story (Halo: Fall of Reach, the first story in the series). It's a great book for its genre and intent, and helps to flesh out the mythos of Halo unbelievably better than any of the games ever did, though Halo 3 came satisfyingly close for most gamers, and better than many other AAA games. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a 3-hour film. One important thing Hollywood has yet to understand: they tried to make video games in the 90s and early 21st century that had to invent stories. You can't truly adapt Mario, Mortal Kombat, or Street Fighter. Video games back then were not a $10.4 billion dollar industry. Today, AAA games require great stories and plots, voiceover, directing, writing, etc. They are more similar to movies now than ever before, in some cases almost indistinguishable. Still though, the right choices must be made or we just end up with BloodRayne, Tomb Raider, and Dead or Alive. Or even the mediocre Resident Evil. Next steps? Prince of Persia's critical and box office success next May 28, 2010. That will help. So will Dead Space in 2011 and Mass Effect in 2012, if those continue through production. Also, movies don't get made because ads do well, unfortunately. Blomkamp's situation proved that. What would be interesting at this point is finding out what actually happened to that project. He put in 6 months on the Halo movie and they pulled it out from under him. Ouch. Maybe in 10-20 years we'll get a documentary on just what went down.
ObiWop

Looked great but it didn't compare to the 8 minutes that Neil Blomkamp did. That was truly badass.
subcelsious5g

Awesome , hope the eventual movie will be like this.
Xerxex

If the halo movie does happen, I think it needs to follow a new character, maybe an ODST or a Marine and their adventure, most already now about the Chief and I really don't see Master Chief being a good character to watch in a film, no face to connect with, now as for this Trailer its perfect, but the plot needs to be character driven and story driven good effects come in at a good second
Xerxex

one more thing Make the film about this character.
Blue & Ognace NY

oh man that was nice, i agree with a few i think what's holding it all up is the studio being afraid of the movie failing due to the script....but what the hell, there's been failures in the past, you never know what will happen until u get it out there....shit as long as you break even, you wash your hands and say hey at least we tried it.
JoJo

WOW this looks better than the halo 3 short films that Niel Blomkampp worked on. But no I don't think Halo movie should be 200M budget. It should be between 100-150M.
Sabes

That was sexy. Give a Halo movie with a good plot with that type of atmosphere and feeling I got from that, and you got yourself a winner.
Efrain

That was amazing. A little campy looking, but with the right budget and special effects it could look 10xs better and incredible. I'd be the first in line for this.
Alex T.

Halo just isnt that gritty. This is false advertising. They are trying to give halo more of a gears of war feel and I'm not falling for it.
DoomCanoe

cool
Jake Sully

THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!! thats not worthing watching its a MUST WATCH!!!
Ayie_Da

That Awesome..!!!!! Can't wait..
Dean

Pretty awesome, however, I prefer Neill's shorts, CGI looked better and felt more grounded in gritty realism.
Angry Chief

Holy shit. This is a great trailer, even though it is for a video game. Good job, Microsoft.
OCP

that was insane
Richard

Definitely amazingly awesome looking, but why are they speaking like Russian or whatever when the writing is in English? The words in the trailer say SGT and 19th and also ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, which is um obviously English, lol.
http://comingsoon.net Rufus

I saw this a bit back but when I first saw it I expected a mediocre movie. After watching it, I have to say I really enjoyed it. If they we're to do a Halo movie, it should follow this kind of approach. Not something like James Camerons AVATAR. I've played the game a many times w/ friends & some poeple enjoy it others think its bad. Bad generally because of all the HALO fanboys & kinds on there. In my opinion, if an Anti-Halo person we're to see this w/out knowing it was based off of the game, I think they would be impressed. Kind of like what Microsoft did w/ Vista by calling it Mojave & tricking people into thinking it was something else.
movieguy

Are you serious? that was one of the lamest things i saw. I know i will get bashed at for saying that but halo is not a good idea for a movie. most video games are not good ideas for a movie because you become too connected to the character your playing. Ugh and i can't believe that any one thought that was great film making ugh..
Jonathan

That was pretty awesome. Like some of the comments above, I'd love to see a serious Halo movie done in the style of the live action trailers!
Zack

I cant tell you how many times I've watched this now. Geez it's freaking awesome. Make a movie already!!!
Nikhil Hariharan

Yes i agree with #22, Halo indeed doesnt have a strong story line so i would rather see a Halo movie that doesnt focus around the games....instead some prequel or separate storyline with a different character but relating the universe together
Kenco

Ha ha... Compare this to that ridiculous Avatar trailer, no comparison, looks incredible!
http://www.pause-the-game.com Raymond

I have had like ZERO interest in ODST as a game. But after watching this I would love to see a movie. I get it it's Starship Troopers with a different look. I don't care that trailer was awesome. Still not sure I will buy the game
Jimbone

Holy shit 44 and 47 are idiots. i can't even get my mind around it. duh people get attached to the characters, that is the point. holy shit. and duh it would be a prequel, since uh, that IS the way it has most recently been penned. it actually, despite your hate for all things microsoft no matter what the context, is a really great story. holy shit.
TTEX

Between this and the neill blomkamp stuff, it's great to see there's really talented directors out there who will never make a halo movie that are capable of making a really cool halo movie.
Trivial

I have to agree with #50, also to say Halo has no story thus can't be made into a movie is basically some of the greatest movies of our time. Either you truly didn't understand Halo or your just lack imagination. I admit the Halo story is not original and a bit cliched but I takes the best elements of other stories and and makes its own. Everything doesn't have to be original to be good. I see Halo as a hybrid between Saving Private Ryan and Star Wars some well known movies that I doubt are considered horrible. And, lots of parallels can be taken from those two movies alone that makes a Halo movie a feasibly awesome, from the action of Saving Private Ryan to Master Chief being a masked character like Darth Vader. The Covenant are basically the Federation. Plus, Halo has so much more story then you give them credit. There is the flood, the forerunners, the rift in the covenant that basically created a civil war, pre-alien civilization, post-alien civilization, the relationship between Cortana and Master Chief, the super soldier program, master chief as a kid, and the list goes on. So, its just about writing the right story and get a good director and a badass Halo movie can be done.
Scott

Wow that was terrific! Go Spartans!!
beavis4play

unless you're a fan of the halo games, that was veeeeeeeeeeeeery cheesy. a halo movie would probably only score fans of the game. after the opening week, boxoffice sales would nosedive to nothing.
Xerxex

Hey Beavis4play, as a Halo fan myself (Not the biggest fan, in the slightest) I do not want see Halo's video game story on the Silver Screen, I'd would only want to see it based from one of the books. With that said I'd be okay if Master Chief wasn't the protagonist, No face, to relate with. I say have the story follow a Marine or one of the ODST soldiers, and have the Chief as a plot element, someone that spikes the hope that the main character feeds off of. would make for a better story. Set it in the Halo Universe, and only mention the Chief, and have it to where we see him, maybe for a few minutes, then near the end of our film have are marine or odst fight along side him. But are the studio heads gonna listen to us? No, is the director gonna listen to us? We'd like to think so but that's still seems like a no.
Rick

simply amazing... a halo movie needs to be made.
Brian

That was fantastic. Bring on a movie! FAST!!!!
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

Should be an advert for joining the military, I suppose it is.
FUCK

My god...ok it is time to make the movie now.....I mean that shit was awesome!
Roib

200 million...? This isn't fucking Avahype. This movie could easily be done for 100.
saveferris

That was amazing... I would love a movie like that
Dan the Fan

so cool. if this doesn't get fans pumped...
dom

Superb! Sanders is one talented fella - and the fact hollywood is calling proves that!
JimD

There are actually a lot of video game promotion trailers that are pretty amazing. I always think how awesome they would be as a full fledged movie.
geneguru

make a film...and make it fucking quick
http://comingsoon.net Rufus

Agreed w/ 50, 44 is a very odd person. Then again he/she is entitled to their own opinion. Like I said in a previous post if you didn't know it was inspired or based or a HALO trailer you're opinion would probably be different. I've also heard that this is a different verson or way like Starship Troopers is.
ChrisUK

Hmm James Cameron is the man for Halo! On the subject of Neil Blomkamp...District 9 was as close to a Half Life style movie as i think we are ever gonna get, and it was awesome. 1. general worker guy - check 2. general worker guy involved in scientific miss hap - check 3. general worker guy forced to fight to survice - check 4. general worker guy uses alien weapons to kill a military force bent on eliminating \ capturing him - check It's all there, almost!
zetsu

that was fucking amazing,this film needs to be made, give rupert sanders the dollar,with a little budget he made an awesome trailer just imagine what he could do with a $200 million.
Alex T.

I hate bungie. I really do. They have been making the same exact game ever since halo 2. The only thing they change up about it is small details like new weapons or throwing in another character. Ever since Halo 2 bungie has done very little to improve their games and they rely almost solely on innovations in advertising to sell their product as opposed to innovations in the video game itself. Don't get me wrong this ad was very well done and the director is very talented but the point is......this is an ad that has little in common with the product. This ad was meant to do two things:One to keep up the interest of fanboys in a future halo feature film and thus secure more income for the company in the future. Two to make you feel like you are going to be part of something epic if you buy and play the game, even though truly all the game boils down to is a bunch of guys running around screaming quotes ripped from Aliens while they shoot at whinny little animals with gas masks and gorillas with guns.
Mindspy

Amazing as this is, this is not the first Halo live-action short made. I'm sure many of you have seen the commercials for Halo 3, but those are not what I am refering to. The Discovery channel flipped the bill for a 7-minute short entitiled "Landfall" as part of the marketing campaign for Halo 3, which was directed by "District 9" director Neill Blomkamp (I know!). Here's a link to it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxdvGO1oOF0
d

Is this a real movie?
Mindspy

In response to d; no, it's not a "real" movie nor is it a trailer for a real movie. Sad, I know… The short posted above by Alex is supposedly part of a slightly longer short to be released later this evening (September 7). The short I linked above (Landfall) was a promotional short for the game Halo 3 as well as a promotional piece for a reality show on the Discovery channel (called Last One Standing). In response to Alex T.... you're arguments for hating Bungie and the Halo games are both pointless and unintelligible. First, Halo is not the only franchise that Bungie has worked on. It just happens to be their current project. Bungie has demonstrated interest in moving on; even claiming that Halo 3 was going to be the finale to the Halo series for the time being. But big-daddy Microsoft wants more Halo games to ensure that the Xbox has something that other platforms don’t. Since Bungie does have contractual agreements to produce future Halo titles for Microsoft, I highly doubt Bungie’s going to say “no” to Microsoft’s lawyers. So if anything, don’t be mad at Bungie; be mad at Microsoft. Secondly, games are dependent on innovations, whether they are large or small. Your statement that Bungie is guilty of this “ever since Halo 2” is asinine. Bungie has only made 2 other Halo games since Halo 2: Halo 3 and Halo: ODST, and that has yet to be released. (And yes, I am aware of Halo: Reach, but no information aside from the teaser trailer has been released). This is hardly a long enough list of Halo games to imply that Bungie has run stagnant in terms of innovation for the series. Additionally, ODST contains major innovations from the previous three titles, its two most notable being: -a new lead character who is far more susceptible to damage than the series’ previous lead character, the Master Chief. (In other words, you are weaker and smaller, thus changing how you must play the game. With the Chief, you could run straight into battle with little fear of dying. But as a weaker regular human, dying is something to consider if you want to progress through the game). -an open-world environment where the player can choose the order of the campaigns or levels, as opposed to the linear progression of the story in the three previous entries. If you were to compare the “life-span” of the Halo franchise to existing franchises, Halo is relatively young. Look at The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Mega-Man, Metroid, Street Fighter, Castlevania, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, or Grand Theft Auto; all franchises where several titles in their respectively extensive lists would only include minor innovations between each title until finally a major overhaul would occur to keep the series fresh. Bungie is neither the first nor will it be the last video game developer to demonstrate this pattern.
Sam

Wow wow wow wow. That was amazing
english?

why is this in another language
donmega

Holy f'ing shitballz......that is the badest ass shit I've ever seen. PLEASE PLEASE, the movie has to be dark and violent like this.
chrisills

That ad is cool. In response to 74, I'm guessing it's Irish Gaelic. Maybe the rookie character you play in the game is of Irish descent.
RStewie

I just saw the "Sgt Johnson" commercial for the new Halo game...I have to say, Bungie and their Halo franchise know how to market a product. It was HILARIOUS, and made me want to get the game. My SO and I played through the last Halo (3?) and I got really interested in the mythology and backstory (since we've never played it before), and I absolutely think there is a movie there. Why Bungie doesn't just make a movie is a little beyond me, though. They do enough story and backstory plotting, character development, environmental mapping, etc...How hard would it really be for them to develop a CGI movie of the game? The work is already done for the games themselves. I think it would be Teh Awesome, and I would put money down that a distributor would pick it up in a heartbeat.
Six Three

badass with a capital BADASS!!!!!!!!!
Squid

The growling alien was scarey. Make him stop.....
Alex T.

Hey Mindspy I do hate microsoft. Congratulations. I realize that all franchise games only include minor innovations between titles but what I can't stand is that bungie and microsoft try to pass this off as a major innovation. As for the whole microsoft bungie contract.....don't make it seem like bungie isnt getting anything out of this and that bill gates is standing there with a whip forcing these people to make the game. If you feel that thats true than why would you buy the product? Would you buy a book that an author was forced to write but had no real intention of doing? No. Because you would realize that the author wouldnt put as much effort into something he never intended to do. My statement about everything being the same since Halo 2 is in reference to the story and the way events unfold in every game. both halo 2 and halo 3 are almost identical.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

Nice one Jim, good to see you came out the closet.
http://www.myspace.com/oct8pusmusic Google the Oct8pus

I gotta go poop....
Said

alright i know war is hell and war is bad.... but if we had to figt in a war like that........ i definetly dont wanna go....... thrugh te master chiefs eyes it looks kick ass, but through an ODST... DAMN!!!
cs

That was so cool!!
cs

That was so cool!! Think I just wet myself.
http://thetylerhayes.com/ Tyler Hayes

Also, the full-length version is now available (in HD, too) over at GameTrailers. Sorry Alex, do what you will with the link, not sure what your policies are. http://www.gametrailers.com/video/full-length-exclusive-halo-3-odst/55529
Robert

Anyone know what song was playing in background? Sounded pretty cool.
boball

I thought this trailer sucked. What was so badass about it? It was actually quite boring.
boss

i agree give the man $200 mil and let him work. This looks very good.
Meh

Holy shit! If M$ doesn't hire this guy RIGHT FUCKING NOW and give him bags of cash to make a Halo movie, they're even dumber than they look! I've never even played the games, but that was incredible!
shehab6003

love the music
Thrax

Pretty awsome!!! Please make it happen!!!
j

what song is that????!!!
strat odst 14

what music is this please i love the odst troopers no pussyhole master chief just brave hardcore troops who always end up in s**t and survive oooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh