The major roadblock to a Halo movie has always been money.  Not in the sense that Microsoft can’t get the money – in the sense that they don’t want to lose money.  Making a Halo movie with a major studio like Warner Brothers or Fox would require Microsoft to give up their rights to exclusively distribute Halo content, which is something Microsoft really can’t afford to do considering it’s their flagship title.  So how do we get a Halo movie out of Microsoft?  Simply put, they make it an Xbox 720/Windows 8 exclusive.

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Now I know how silly this sounds, but bear with me.  The future of consoles isn’t in gaming.  Yes, it’s what they’ve built their empire on, but how many people game on their TV as opposed to how many watch movies on their TV?  The difference is extreme to say the least.  Microsoft and Sony both know this, it’s why Netflix is on both of them.  So obviously the big 2 are building their next generation systems to be capable gaming machines and powerful media centers.  Their goal is to make it so the only thing connected to your TV is a console.  But putting Netflix on something is really more a matter of how much stress your network can handle than it is that your network is a good distribution platform for entertainment in video form.  To prove that the consoles can take over the living room, the big two need to prove that the content they make for it will sell well outside of the gaming community.

A version of a Halo movie has been in development hell since Halo 1 launched, so the anticipation for it couldn’t be any more buzz-worthy.  People WANT a Halo movie.  Microsoft wants to prove that Windows 8 is the unified solution to connecting all of your devices.  Considering how broad reaching Windows 8 is becoming, how well the new consoles will sell (it’s a given at this point that they’ll sell well), and how easy it would be for Microsoft to run an ad universally across Windows 8 and the Xbox 720, a Halo movie exclusive to the Xbox 720 and Windows 8 users would undoubtedly sell well.

Assuming it does, a Halo movie would prove to the major studios, distributors, directors, and actors that the consoles are the new movie theater,  the new TV, and can be highly profitable because there’s no middle man.  You don’t have to ship thousands of film reels, you don’t have to securely deliver thousands of hard drives with movies on them, and you don’t have to pay a network like NBC or HBO to run your content on a console.

Now, it’s obvious that as far as movies are concerned, Netflix is the future, which is why a lot of people think my idea won’t work.  But if Netflix and the console makers team up, networks like HBO are screwed.  Getting a movie to viewers will be a lot easier when you don’t have to convince them to pay their cable company more for the same content you can get on your console for less money, WAY more control, and WAY more variety.  So maybe the premiere of the Halo movie is a “live” broadcast exclusive to the Xbox 720/Windows 8 on launch day and Netflix members can stream it the day after or something.

Regardless of how they do it, the Xbox 720 needs something to prove it can compete as source of original premium entertainment and not just another Netflix box.

Also, they should totally cast Veselka as the guy that gets blown up first in the Halo movie!

What are your thoughts?  Would you pay to see a Halo movie if it was only available on the Xbox 720 or Windows 8?  Let us know!