Fincher executive produced the trailer, with Miller serving as director - joining other rising Hollywood talents, Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) who helmed the Halo: ODST trailer, “We Are ODST” and Noam Murro (the upcoming 300: Rise of an Empire) who led the Halo: Reach trailer “Birth of a Spartan.” The official announcement comes one week ahead of the final trailer - which is set for debut on October 18th.
Halo launch trailers have grown increasingly complex over the years - ditching gameplay for enormous live-action battlefields as well as attempts to display emotional complexities of the soldiers behind the masks (i.e. the ODST “Rookie” and the Reach Spartans). According to Microsoft, the Halo 4 launch trailer will take a similar approach - this time with Master Chief:
Similar comments from 343 Studios, about delving into Master Chief’s backstory, drew a mixed response from fans - as many are eager to see the character explored in future installments while others would prefer that John-117 remain a blank slate. That said, Microsoft knows that Halo, and the Master Chief character, need to be handled extremely carefully - especially if they ever want to get a Halo movie off the ground. The Spartan-II’s depiction in the recent Halo 4 live-action webseries, Forward Unto Dawn, looks to be encouraging and, with Fincher and Miller attached to the latest launch trailer, Microsoft is certainly investing in top-tier talent to help showcase how cool Master Chief would be on the big screen - in addition to serving-up an explosive piece of marketing for Halo 4.
Check out the first full image of Master Chief in the Halo 4 launch trailer, “Scanned,” below (click to enlarge):
Discussing his excitement and goals for the project, Miller stated:
Miller and Fincher previously worked together on the visually striking title sequence for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo adaptation. While Fincher didn’t weigh-in on the significance of the Halo franchise this round, he did offer praise of Miller’s knack for blending live-action and CGI elements - a skill that will be key if the pair intend to deliver the best live-action Halo trailer to date:
Fincher’s mostly vague comment indicates that, despite his executive producer title, he probably doesn’t have much direct interaction or insight into Miller’s Halo 4 trailer - and, in this case, is serving in a limited support role. As a result, while “Scanned” could certainly be a jaw-dropping piece of live-action Halo marketing/entertainment, fans expecting a lot of Fincher influence probably shouldn’t wait on baited breath.
As mentioned, the extended two-minute trailer will debut on October 18th - first on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (the show starts 12:35am ET/11:35pm CT on NBC) and, immediately after the broadcast debut, available for viewing on Halo Waypoint and the Xbox YouTube channel. In the meantime, players can pre-order their Halo 4 copy, check out the Halo 4 multiplayer walkthroughs, and watch for new episodes of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.
-
Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick for further updates on Halo 4 as well as other movie, TV, and gaming news.
Halo 4 launches on November 6th, exclusively for Xbox 360.
