Halo

Even by Hollywood standards, it was strange to see Master Chief hand deliver the Halo script, written by 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland, to all the major studios, and stranger still when no studio immediately committed to the film adaptation of the mega-selling Xbox game in early 2005. Studios held firm when faced with the demands of the game's creator Microsoft, which included complete creative control and a $10 million fee for the rights. Since established franchises are few and far between, Fox and Universal agreed to team up on the project and, shortly after, Peter Jackson came aboard to produce with Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro in talks to direct. But that's where Master Chief started to run out of bullets. In 2006, Del Toro bowed out to direct Hellboy 2 and Jackson hired first-time director Neill Blomkamp to shore up the alien flood. Unfortunately, the studios balked at the cost of bringing the flood to the screen, which was said to be close to $200 million.

Project Status: Jackson has said recently that he hopes the release of Halo 3 the video game will make studio heads realize what they're missing.

NEXT: Hands on a Hard Body, a Robert Altman project left behind