Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh to produce Halo movie

New Zealand director Peter Jackson and the Oscar-winning creative team behind The Lord of the Rings films will produce a movie based on Microsoft's blockbuster Halo video game, ABC News reported.

It was the first time Jackson and Walsh -- currently in post-production on Universal's King Kong, set for release in December -- have acted as executive producers on a major film that Jackson is not directing.

A director has yet to be named for the film.

The movie was scheduled for worldwide release in mid-2007 by Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, ABC said.

The film would be shot in Jackson's production and post-production facilities in Wellington.

"I'm a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen," Jackson said in a statement.

The executive producers would collaborate with Microsoft's Bungie Studios, which created the game as the best-selling franchise for Microsoft's Xbox game console.

The game follows the adventures of the futuristic super-soldier Master Chief as he battles an alien onslaught, and a similar line has been followed by screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later) in a feature film adaptation.

Halo will join other video-game inspired films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Doom.

Hollywood's major film studios gave Microsoft a cool reception a year ago when the company first said it wanted a high price for Halo.

ABC reported Universal and Fox would pay Microsoft $5 million plus a percentage of movie ticket sales, capped at 10 per cent of USA box office receipts.

- NZPA