South Africa-born, 26-year-old commercial and music video director Neill Blomkamp has landed one hell of a feature debut. Blomkamp has been selected for the job of directing "Halo," Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox's big-screen adaptation of the video game series reports the trades.

The games follow a character named Master Chief and his companion Cortana as they try to save the galaxy from alien forces called the Flood. Halo refers to an artificial ringworld that actually is a weapon capable of destroying the galaxy.

Alex Garland ("28 Days Later") wrote the screenplay. Blomkamp's work for the likes of Nike & Citroen in the ad world has landed a lot of awards for innovation. Guillermo Del Toro was the favourite, but committed to "Hellboy 2" instead.

Microsoft was aiming to get the pic quickly into production to tie in with the 2007 release of "Halo 3." But development has taken longer than expected. The earliest the film can be expected in theaters now is summer 2008.