Rumours began last week over at the IESB that Stephen Spielberg was in negotiations to produce the long awaited HALO movie based on Stuart Beattie’s treatment entitled HALO: THE FALL OF REACH. Naturally, being big news I reported back to my readers on this development – sorted, right?

Well, over the last couple of days (Wednesday I think), Microsoft released a statement regarding the recent news:

“We’re glad there’s still a lot of enthusiasm in the entertainment industry surrounding the idea of a Halo movie. That said, the Halo feature film remains on hold as we focus on projects like Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach.

Upon further questioning, Microsoft added that they had “nothing further to share with respect to plans regarding a Halo movie”.

Many film sites have taken this to mean that the Spielberg rumour is pure bunkum, and if I’m honest I would be inclined to think the same thing – were it not for the IESB’s response:

I feel the need to update because a few sites out there including MTV Movies Blog are taking some Microsoft quotes out of context and claiming IESB’s Spielberg news is wrong.

Sorry guys, it’s not.

Typical corporate “no comment” guys. I guess if we had said a Twilight cast member would be starring in Halo with a resurrected Michael Jackson as his sidekick, MTV would have reported it as truth just for the traffic.

There’s the update and let me tell you, we can’t tell you who our sources are but let me just say they are very close to the project.

Now this is where it gets tricky, we all know that in the corporate world people will only let you know as much as they need you to, and they’ll bullshit the rest. So does Microsoft’s statement have the stale tang of bull? Is Spielberg in negotiations? I’ll let you decide, all I’m saying is I certainly hope he is!

Source: IESB.