Halo Just Beat Out Yellowstone For Impressive Record
The new Halo series just beat out Yellowstone for a very impressive record. It looks like Paramount now has a few different hits.
After over a decade of developmental hell, the Halo Tv Series has finally made its debut. The show aired on Paramount + on March 24th and has gotten off to a flying start. As per Deadline, the show has broken records for the emerging streaming platform with its premiere episode, beating out one of the best performers for the platform.
According to Paramount +, Halo has become their most-watched show in its opening 24 hours of streaming, beating out predecessor 1883, the prequel series to Yellowstone. The exact figure achieved by Halo is not yet known, however, 1883‘s figure stood at 4.9 million, so Halo could well and truly have breached the five million barrier. This will come as welcome relief to the executives behind Paramount +, as even before the new Halo series aired, such was the confidence in the product, a second series was green-lit. Paramount + will be grateful that it seems their good faith looks set to be repaid.
A record-breaking start for Halo is an even more incredible result when one considers how long it has taken for the videogame series to make its bow in live-action storytelling. Halo, the videogame series, made its debut on the first XBOX console back in the 2000s. The game centers on the Master Chief, a Spartan warrior protecting mankind from the alien threat known as the Covenant, all set against the backdrop of the 26th Century.
A live-action Halo adaptation goes back as far as 2005 when game developers Microsoft made an ambitious pitch to film studios to produce a feature film. Microsoft was intent on maintaining as much control and profit from a film as they could, and a project that had backing from Fox and Universal, along with involvement from the likes of Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp, and Guillermo Del Toro came grinding to a halt in 2006.
After a failed film adaptation of Halo, the attention turned to the small screen. Back in 2013, Steven Spielberg came on as an executive producer and joined Microsoft in announcing a Halo Tv series. Showtime was intended to be the show’s home, but after years of struggling to adapt the product, Paramount + came in to take the reigns and finally bring the project to life. Seventeen years is a long time to bring a project to life, in that time, the amount of Halo video games released has broken double figures. However, the show is finally here and off to a flying start. The success of the show is vital, as, under the current leadership, Paramount’s focus has been shifting heavily to streaming.
The Halo TV Series stars Orange Is the New Black’s Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief and the first of two series initially planned will run for nine episodes in total. The next episode airs on the 31st of March and Paramount + will be hoping that the show will be able to build on its impressive start and continue to grow in viewing numbers, so that early bet on a second series well and truly pays off.
