Beattie tries to get 'Halo' movie rolling

Screenwriter Stuart Beattie has reportedly written a film script for video game adaptation Halo.

The expensive blockbuster was set up with Peter Jackson as a producer and rookie helmer Neill Blomkamp attached to direct. However, production was halted in 2006 when studios Fox and Universal wouldn't finance the film.

Writers Alex Garland, D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson all worked on the script but Jackson, along with Microsoft and Bungie, the game's creators, couldn't revive the project.

Beattie, whose credits include Pirates of the Caribbean and GI Joe, penned the script Halo: Fall of Reach on spec, meaning it wasn't a paid studio assignment, to try to get Hollywood interested in the project again.

He has also written detailed outlines for proposed second and third Halo films.

Beattie's Halo script, based on Eric Nylund's official novel, focuses on a soldier called John who is kidnapped and trained to become an elite Spartan warrior known as Master Chief 117.