Everyone saw it coming, but here it is anyway: since word got out that both Universal and Fox had backed out of the Halo movie, it was public knowledge that the project would be put on hold. Here’s the official word from Wingnut Films, the guys behind the movie, courtesy of AICN:

As was previously confirmed, we deeply regret that both Universal and Fox did not choose to move forward with financing the Halo film under the original terms of the agreement. At this time Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, along with their partner, Microsoft, have mutually agreed to postpone making a feature film based on the Halo video game universe until we can fulfill the promise we made to millions of Halo fans throughout the world that we would settle for no less than bringing a first class film to the big screen. We are fully supportive of Director Neill Blomkamp’s vision of the film. Neill is a tremendously gifted filmmaker and his preliminary work on Halo is truly awe-inspiring. While it will undoubtedly take a little longer for Halo to reach the big screen, we are confident that the final feature film will be well worth the wait.

Bringing extremely bad news to Halo fans is Variety who reports that both Universal and Fox Studios have backed out of the Halo movie adaptation. They cite rising movie costs and apprehension over a director who has no feature film under his belt. Apparently, there was a rumor that the budget for the movie was close to $200 million, the lion’s share of which was supposed to go to Microsoft.

According to Peter Jackson’s agent, the studios asked Microsoft, Bungie and Peter Jackson to ’significantly reduce their deals’ in the movie. This was “respectfully declined” however, prompting both studios to pull out. In response, Bungie is all “optimism, satisfaction and happiness for reasons can’t go into,” as per a weekly update on its site.

No new studio has been lured in announced yet.

Gamers have been pondering on the greatest contemporary mystery of all time: who will be the director of the Halo movie? Well, Xbox.com broke the word, and, surprisingly, took down the announcement too, that Neil Blomkamp will be the film’s director.

Most will not know him by name, but his IMDB entry shows some impressive work. He has worked as a 3D animator on various television series such as Smallville and Stargate SG-1; he has also worked on a variety of commercials as well. Blomkamp is, however, mostly known for his short film Alive in Joburg, which deals with an alien invasion, futuristic soldiers and spaceships, subject matter that is not too far away from the Halo universe.

IMDB’s page for the Halo movie currently lists the upcoming film for release sometime during 2008, delayed from its original summer 2007 schedule. The film, which is being executive produced by Peter Jackson, and whose script was written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later), is yet to gain a director and the rest of the production team.

Bungie has stated that Halo 3 and the Halo movie will not affect each other in terms of release dates. So, don’t sweat it - just wait for a good movie to hit theaters… and the game to hit stores sometime next year.