Halo TV Show Didn't Work Out, But Microsoft Is Committed To More Xbox TV Shows And Movies

While Microsoft's Halo TV show did not become a huge success, that hasn't stopped the company from seeking to adapt its franchises for film and TV. The next release is A Minecraft Movie, which comes to theaters on April 4. After that, there's Season 2 of the Fallout TV show on Prime Video. Then there's a Gears of War movie and TV show. You can expect Microsoft to do even more as it relates to transmedia opportunities for Xbox franchises, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said.

Speaking to Variety, Spencer said not every project will work out, but it's all part of the learning process.

"We learned from doing Halo. We learned from doing Fallout. So all of these build on themselves," he said. "And obviously we'll have a couple that miss. But what I'd say to the Xbox community that likes this work is, 'You're going to see more, because we're gaining confidence and we're learning through this.'"

Years ago, Microsoft created an entire division focused on TV shows and movies called Xbox Entertainment Studios, but closed it down in 2014.

The Halo TV series at Paramount+ ran for two seasons before being canceled. The Fallout TV show for Prime Video was a big success for its first season and is coming back for a second season. As for the Gears of War movie and TV show, they are in production for Netflix, but it's still early days. A TV show based on Obsidian's Grounded is also in development.

A Minecraft Movie debuts April 4 in theaters, starring Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Meyers, Sebastian Hansen, and Danielle Brooks. It's a co-production between game developer Mojang and movie studio Legendary.

Mary Parent, the chairman of worldwide production for Legendary, said the movie is called "A Minecraft Movie" because the game has no one defined story. Director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), meanwhile, said the movie is not the "official" story of the game--because there is no one set story.

"We're not canonizing anything. We're just one of a zillion stories," he said.

Minecraft the game is one of the most commercially success games ever, having sold more than 300 million copies. The movie is expected to make $60 million in the US and Canada for its opening weekend, which would put it on pace with Sonic the Hedgehog 3.