Is it really so that one of the biggest geeks in the world has never attended Comic-Con? We have to cut Peter Jackson some slack, of course, since he's from New Zealand and has been so obsessed with making movies that his schedule hasn't permitted him to attend in the past. He will be making the trip this year, though, in support of District 9, which he produced.

Jackson will participate in a panel discussion on Friday, July 24, along with the film's director, Neill Blomkamp, and star Sharlto Copley. And if you said, 'Blom who? Sharlto what?' that's probably a good reason for Jackson to make the trip: he's the kind of marquee attraction that can draw attention to a film without other widely-recognizable names attached. The trailer for District 9 looks pretty darn good. William Goss described the premise as: "What if aliens landed in South Africa and were cooped up there for a bit too long?" In the teaser, one of the aliens says, "We mean you no harm. We just want to go home," which gave me visions of Predator crossed with E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. And to tie the film back into Comic-Con, a mysterious, pervasive anti-alien marketing campaign appeared at last year's con, as Elisabeth Rappe reported.

In a prepared statement, Jackson said: "After all these years, I'm thrilled that I finally have the opportunity to visit San Diego for Comic-Con ... I know that those who visit us on July 24th in Hall H will be in for quite a ride." District 9 hits theaters nationwide on August 14, so Jackson's appearance, no doubt with an extended clip from the film, should boost awareness. Not to mention thrill just about every fan boy in attendance!

As William Goss noted earlier this week, District 9 seems to have caught us all unawares, despite the slow spread of viral marketing. In fact, the marketing was all over last year's San Diego ComicCon. There were anti-alien posters everywhere (very little pro-alien propaganda which says something about the crowd), especially over bathroom signage. I remember there were even protesters marching through the hall with anti-alien signs chanting about how they weren't wanted on Earth. No one knew what any of it was for! "Oh, it's some sci-fi movie. Peter Jackson has something to do with it, I think" was the refrain any time you asked about them. It was a fairly effective campaign in the "Wow, that's unsettling" department, but not so good on the "Hey! District 9 is coming out next year!" element.

But, the buzz is growing thanks to the effective teaser placed before X-Men Origins: Wolverine (go watch it on Goss' post if you haven't already), and now every movie fan is really chomping at the bit to see more. Over at Yahoo! Movies, they have a little bit to feed your curiosity ... the first official poster for District 9. It's pretty evocative of those ComicCon ones (which I'm throwing into the gallery just for posterity's sake) but with the violence amped up. Creepy stuff, isn't it? This may end up being more Cloverfield hype than substance, but at least it's low-key enough to stay interesting.

Somewhere in between last week's heated banter about X-Men Origins: Wolverine and its amnesia bullets, the teaser for August's District 9 (not to be confused with September's 9 or November's Nine) slipped through our nets.

This Peter Jackson-produced piece of speculative sci-fi -- what if aliens landed in South Africa and were cooped up there for a bit too long? -- builds upon director Neill Blomkamp's 2005 short, Alive in Joburg, and seems to revel in a similar mix of high-concept dilemma, low-key effects, and no-name actors.

The Apple page proves to be quite the one-stop shop for the film's viral marketing campaign to date. There's propaganda both for and against the film's central corporate entity, Multi-National United -- they're either harnassing alien technologies in order to produce better energy sources or using that as a cover to develop weaponry (and what kind of movie would we get if the former were true, hmmm?). Hey, there's even some viral marketing for the kids!

So all things considered, are you guys intrigued for District 9? Psyched? Pumped? Utterly uninterested?

Update: Trailer Addict has a version of the trailer that reveals the alien's face (see image above) and translates its pleas. We've embedded it after the jump...

While all folks involved are still working on getting a live-action Halo flick off the ground, that film's producer, Peter Jackson, and director, Neill Blomkamp, have settled on something different to mark Blomkamp's feature directorial debut. Variety tells us that both men will move forward with a live-action, sci-fi flick called District 9, which Jackson will produce through his Wingnut Films. Blomkamp also wrote the script, along with Teri Tatchell, and production is set to begin this spring in South Africa, where Blomkamp is from.

Unfortunately, there are no story details at this time, but based on that "live-action, sci-fi" description, it would appear that District 9 will serve as another calling card for Jackson and Blomkamp to use to convince studios that Blomkamp is the right man for the Halo job. We already know that pre-production continues on Halo in New Zealand, and right now it's all about finding a studio (or studios) willing to eat up some of that high budget and take a chance on the young filmmaker. In addition to his very cool short film, Alive in Joburg, Blomkamp also recently directed three live-action short films promoting the Halo 3 video game. Though there's no word on plot for District 9, I wonder if it will have anything to do with Blomkamp's Joburg. That short told the story of a group of aliens who become refugees in South Africa. It was live action, had sci-fi elements and was shot in South Africa. Could it be a feature-length version? Who knows, but after watching it several times, I'm convinced Blomkamp has one helluva future ahead of him.

So now that Halo 3 has officially hit stores (in a ginormous way), folks are probably wondering whether Halo: The Movie would start picking up some pre-strike steam. I swear, it's the oddest project I've ever come across. The friggin' video game is a monster -- I mean a real whale here -- and yet Hollywood is avoiding the movie as if it were the plague. I shouldn't really blame all of Hollywood; primarily we're talking Universal and Fox, both of whom originally attempted to team up on the project. But after months of arguing over who really took the cookie from the cookie jar, the project was put to rest. Now, Neill Blomkamp, the relative unknown who was originally tapped by Peter Jackson to direct the Halo film, speaks out about what happened, where the project is now and what his Halo movie would've looked like.

Blomkamp spoke to Creativity Online, and among other things in the interview, he says, "The film is entirely dead. Whatever happens with that movie, assuming that movie gets made, will be a totally different configuration. It's not so much me as the entire vessel sank. Basically, it was a combination of; there were two studios involved that weren't getting along in the process of making it, Universal and Fox. That kind of stuff happens, it's a fragile industry. So the film collapsed at the end of last year, and it's been dead, ever since then. I'll be curious to see what happens." Blomkamp also talks about the three promotional shorts he made for Halo 3, and how none of them had anything to do with a potential movie. Those were made specifically to promote Halo 3, although fans (like me) looked at them as more of a tease.

It really is a shame, and I hope people from Universal and Fox read this, because this dude Neill Blomkamp would've made an amazing Halo film, unlike any video game adaptation out there. Just check out some of the things he says about his vision: "I wanted it to feel like the most brutal, real version of science fiction in a war environment that you've seen in a while. And Universal was on board with that. I don't really remember what Fox thought about it, but Universal seemed down with it. It would have been cool, it would have been a unique take on things, science fiction in a dirty, organic way." So then what the hell happened? Why couldn't they get this done? Apparently there were budgetary concerns, but I would've taken the chance. Who knows what will happen from here, but rest assured Halo: The Movie directed by Neill Blomkamp will soon join the growing list of films that should've been made, but never were.

[Thanks to Shawn for the tip]

Not long ago, 20th Century Fox and Universal had struck a deal with Microsoft to bring their most popular video game, Halo, to the big screen. Producer Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) felt comfortable assigning newbie director Neill Blomkamp the task of creating a live action flick (with help from screenwriter Alex Garland), but just when casting rumors began to circulate, the project died on the operating table. Fans everywhere were crushed, and both studios just didn't feel confident enough to invest in a big-budgeted video game adaptation when other such films hadn't performed well at the box office. Recently, Jackson went on record with OnFilm Magazine noting that he expects Fox and Universal to change their minds once they see how nuts people get for the latest Halo installment, Halo 3. Well, it looks like Microsoft, Blomkamp and WETA Digital took things a step further ...

During the E3 conference yesterday, Microsoft unveiled a number of Halo-related goodies; one of which was a live-action teaser helmed by the Halo would-be director, Neill Blomkamp. With help from WETA, Blomkamp cut together a pretty enticing little teaser -- featuring a bunch of soldiers preparing for battle -- in the hopes (I assume) to not only promote the new game, but also give Fox and Universal a taste of what he envisions a film version would ultimately look like. (Note: After you click on the link above, scroll down to Halo Arms Race, as that's the trailer Blomkamp directed.) Personally, I wasn't immediately jazzed by it (some of the shots looked like stock photos of an auto-parts factory), but apparently this isn't the only one Blomkamp created. Thus, we can expect to see more in the coming months leading up to the official release of Halo 3. Will Jackson's predictions turn out to be true? Will Fox and Universal see enough to warrant another greenlight? It's still up in the air, but I wouldn't be surprised if, come this fall, we get word that a Halo movie is in the works once again.

I like watching all kinds of short films, but I have a particular liking for very short shorts -- microshorts, I suppose they're called. I've been moved and impressed by 20-minute and even half-hour long short films, but give me a film under five minutes in length and I'm easy to please. Let's not forget that one of the best-known short films ever, the 1969 classic Bambi Meets Godzilla, is only two minutes long, including credits. So when I found out DepicT!, a competition for shorts under 90 seconds, and learned that the competition's website includes many of the winning shorts, you know I was in short-film heaven. The competition is currently accepting entries through Sept. 3, so if you've got a short film that qualifies, send it to them ... and to me too!

This week's list of shorts (after the jump) also includes a couple of robot-themed films, for no other reason than that someone sent me one and it made me think of another one I liked. I could do a whole week of nothing but robot shorts ... maybe next time. Remember, if you've got a short film available online (or have seen one you like), whether or not it contains robots, please email us the URL to shorts AT cinematical DOT com.

Man, there's so much to get to today -- I don't even know where to begin. How about: Hello, my name is Erik Davis and welcome to Eat My Shorts. For those of you who are new here, Eat My Shorts is a weekly feature in which I travel around the internet in search of a bunch of short films for you to watch and discuss. Why? Well, quite simply, shorts are cool.

This week, my goal was to find shorts that were different from anything we've watched thus far. Wanna know if this dude Neill Blomkamp has what it takes to direct Halo? Ever wonder what it would be like if network executives were played by your favorite night lights? Do you dig Scottish folktales? What about porn? Or perhaps you'd be interested in a short documentary about undocumented citizens? All different. All unique. And they're all featured in this week's edition of Eat My Shorts.

Also, I'd like to remind you to keep sending in those short films folks. Your help is greatly appreciated. Consider your next imaginary drink on me. Remember, all tips, links and suggestions can be sent to shorts AT cinematical DOT com. Okay, let's go watch some shorts ...

Holy crap, it looks like the big-screen adaptation of the popular video game Halo is finally picking up steam. For a while there, this thing seemed all but dead in the water, what with a new screenwriter coming onboard and the release date getting pushed back. Add to that the news that producer Peter Jackson's Weta Digital signed on to handle the special effects for James Cameron's Avatar, thus casting doubt on their ability to handle two enormous projects at once, and things weren't looking so good for poor Halo.

But hey, good news: The producers just signed Neill Blomkamp to take charge and direct the film. However, the bad news is, well, who the hell is Neill Blomkamp? Apparently, the dude has done some extensive visual effects work on TV shows like Smallville and Dark Angel, as well as directing a few short films. So that's good, right? Yet, this is a huge project with a giant fanbase -- to give someone Halo as their first feature seems like a pretty big risk on the part of the studios involved. Then again, perhaps they see something we do not. Thoughts?

[via IGN]