Variety is reporting that studio co-financiers Universal and 20th Century Fox have backed
out of the movie adaptation of Tom Clancy’s bestselling videogame Halo, executive produced by Peter Jackson. With a budget figure rumored to be crawling up toward if not past $200 million, the studios demanded that Microsoft (the publishers of the popular videogame) and members of the film’s producing team each take upfront and profit participation pay cuts.

This is of course the latest in a string of high-profile movies (including projects from Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey, among others) thrust unceremoniously into turnaround due to cost concerns, but does anyone really doubt that Halo, currently pegged for a summer 2008 release, is going to get made?

Studios are no longer typically in the business of wooing movie fans —  they’re wooing event fans, and ergo aren’t going to pass up a swing for the fences in the form of a potential core audience like that of Halo, even if it all eventually blows up in their face, a la Lara Croft and the two forgettable Tomb Raider flicks. All this means is a bunch of extra phone calls and labyrinthine draft contract work for lawyers as Microsoft et al secure a new deal. Heck, every studio in town might have a piece of the pie by the time it’s all done.