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This topic has probably came up about a million times but because im a newbee i figured that theres other newbees or vets Dakites whant to talk about it

so, A Gaunts Ghosts movies would be awsome paired up with a soundtrack by Dragonforce or something like that.

It never coming out is a good start.

40K wouldnt work as a movie, a mini series would be more appropriate.

yeah i suppose that would work better

I agree, I don't think WH40K coud easily work as a movie, it would be very expensive and probably a trilogy (ala LotR)......another downside would be the need for involvement from GW!

To be fair, personally, there are other films I'd like to see made, like Star-craft or even something like Infinity (even though its very young).....

A Starcraft movie would just be 40K with a few name changes.

BYE

It would really depend on the calibre of the script and the director. I think that the background is great, but a background is not a story. Ultimately, I have no interest in "Warhammer 40,000: Teh Movie!" but rather, a film set in the Warhammer 40K universe.

If it's anything like the vast majority of Black Library novels, it will be complete crap.

A 40k movie would just be "Star Wars" with a few name changes.

Delephont wrote:I agree, I don't think WH40K coud easily work as a movie, it would be very expensive and probably a trilogy (ala LotR)......another downside would be the need for involvement from GW!

To be fair, personally, there are other films I'd like to see made, like Star-craft or even something like Infinity (even though its very young).....

GW would charge you for each episode then go back and change how it started mid way through so you had to go through it all over again

stonefox wrote:A 40k movie would just be "Star Wars" with a few name changes.

I'm not about to defend GW's knack for ripping off other propeties... but Star Wars? 40K is nothing like Star Wars.

BYE

The problem with 40K as a movie is that the Imperium is nearly as bad as Chaos. That leaves you with no heroes to root for except the Tau and they are a bit suspect.

So it would all be very goth/fascist/emo and only appeal to 15 year olds.

It would also be very difficult the set the background in a movie; not nearly enough time.

Ravenous D wrote:40K wouldnt work as a movie, a mini series would be more appropriate.

Agreed that a mini-series would be the best route. There are loads of great, very short fluff pieces begging to be extrapolated into 1 hour episodes of action and mayhem.

Iorek wrote:It would also be very difficult the set the background in a movie; not nearly enough time.

Too true. All the same, I have always thought that the Third War for Armaggeddon would work the best on the big screen. Solid story, compelling characters, good match up (humans vs space orks is approachable for the common viewer, and not impossible budget-wise to make happen with SFX), and has a LOT of fluff to pull smaller vignettes from.

On the topic of Armaggeddon 3, is the BL book about it any good?

- Salvage

Kilkrazy wrote:The problem with 40K as a movie is that the Imperium is nearly as bad as Chaos. That leaves you with no heroes to root for except the Tau and they are a bit suspect.

So it would all be very goth/fascist/emo and only appeal to 15 year olds.

And the game currently doesnt?

How about a Space Wolf movie?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes wearing nothing but the
furs from his kills for warmth. The movie opens with a shot
following his lean, long strides as the tiniest hint of fur
covers his young, but masculine body. After his first big
kill, where he drives the shaft of his spear deep into the
flank of a big bad wolf, godlike men descend from the
heavens to join him to their society.

"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

It would have to be based around an Inquisitor, problem is the sfx budget - Eisenhorn/ravenor etc. move around so much to give the correct 'scale' to the movie you would have HUGE set pieces sometimes for a very small percentage of movie time.

Horus Heresy series (minus Decent of Angels) would be amazing but like has been said before it would be almost impossible to fit all the background into the filmS never mind the SFX budget going through the roof!

15hours is quite adaptable to a movie but there's not much going on character wise to interest the veiwer, it's more of a day in the life sort of book.

H.B.M.C. wrote:A Starcraft movie would just be 40K with a few name changes.

BYE

In retrospect, I think you're right....they're both very generic...kill the alien swarm kinda thing! Ok, so then its just INFINITY that would interest me, a very rich background, very mature and adult theme.....yeah, I think it would work.....not too mention it has nothing to do with anything WH40K like et al!

Back on point however, one of the major reasons WH40K wouldn't work as a T.V series or Film, is because its been done before....it has been done before and GW raped those that came before for ideas to create WH40K!!!

A film would show up just how bland and uninventive GW products actually are. I mean, lets think about what GW has done to move either the fantasy or Sci-Fi genre onwards.....#tumble weed#.....you got it. Take any race from WH40K and it has its obvious conterpart in general fantasy or modern history.....guys, its pap! The whole Horus Heresy is ripped straight from the Bible for crying out loud.....you wanna see a WH40K film, hell, just watch the Ten Commandments...job done!

GW is probably more than aware of this fact, and are just lying low....keeping their heads down. The only way WH40K could work and be given its "own identity" would be if it hit you in one go...BLAM!...WH40K, Space Marines, Eldar, IG......all of it, right there.....but to do that you'd be asking the general public to sit in a movie theatre for well over 5 hours.....again, who the hell is gonna do that?

malfred wrote:How about a Space Wolf movie?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes wearing nothing but the
furs from his kills for warmth. The movie opens with a shot
following his lean, long strides as the tiniest hint of fur
covers his young, but masculine body. After his first big
kill, where he drives the shaft of his spear deep into the
flank of a big bad wolf, godlike men descend from the
heavens to join him to their society.

"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

ermm....did you want it to come across as a homosexual porn movie?

Delephont wrote:

malfred wrote:How about a Space Wolf movie?

... a homosexual pr0n movie?

Frankly I think the Wolves are least suited for the "Kyoto Subtext Treatment" of all of the chapters, as there actually is something to the whole "Norsemen bond of brothers in battle" thing that doesn't approach the ridiculous (at least IMO). But then you have the whole Curse of the Wulfen thing (i.e. THEY TURN INTO WEREWOLVES WTF?!) for your silly fix

- Salvage

Delephont wrote:

malfred wrote:How about a Space Wolf movie?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes wearing nothing but the
furs from his kills for warmth. The movie opens with a shot
following his lean, long strides as the tiniest hint of fur
covers his young, but masculine body. After his first big
kill, where he drives the shaft of his spear deep into the
flank of a big bad wolf, godlike men descend from the
heavens to join him to their society.

"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

ermm....did you want it to come across as a homosexual porn movie?

What was 300 all about then?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes wearing nothing but the
furs from his kills for warmth. The movie opens with a shot
following his lean, long strides as the tiniest hint of fur
covers his young, but masculine body. After his first big
kill, where he drives the shaft of his spear deep into the
flank of a big bad wolf, godlike men descend from the
heavens to join him to their society.

"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

sounds very much like the opening to 300 / pathfinder to me....

don't like space wolves anyway so I'm a bit one sided on that one sorry

The 2nd War for Armageddon. Ghazkhul and his orks are busy laying waste to just about everything.

The movie could focus on yarrick, or maybe a squad of guard in Hades hive getting ready for the final siege, where they know they will lose their lives against the orc assault.

Lots of guerrila fighting against orks, lots of Imperial preaching, the Emperor protects, the Preist screams over and over, and we get the feeling that maybe this "Imperium" just doesn't care.

The different squad members tell stories or rememeber past battles or whatever throughout the movie, that give us glimpses of the 40k universe, Ultramarines fighting tyranids, Grey Knights vs Chaos, Eldar vs Necrons, whatever.

At the end, as the orks begin their assault, yarrick leads his men in a final battle, that they are certain to lose...

And the first drop pods and jump troops of the Blood Angels land, and begin to rain from the sky. The guardsmen revel in the Space Marines as their saviors, and then the Blood Angels go to work.

The Blood Angels begin to savagely butcher any ork they come across, (Cue scenes of gore and carnage so vile to turn your stomach. Ripping limps off, stomping faces, eviscerating dead bodies, etc.) and even though the tide of battle has turned, we the audience are left to wonder, are Space Marines really the heros that the guardsmen think they are? And as a final point, maybe the orks were more noble and deserved to win?

malfred wrote:How about a Space Wolf movie?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes....
"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

Brokeback Battle Barge?

I think Eisenhorn would make for a good film character, since he has the humanity mixed with a harsh justice feel that a lot of popular "dark" heroes have. He fights obviously bad things, but at the same time is a hard ass himself.
The sets are not an issue anymore. The new Star Wars movies were set largely on green screen (not that they are great examples of movie making.) Anymore, any difficult set areas are just a floor in a green box. Eisenhorn as a movie could probably get away with just having the inside of the gun cutter, maybe the bridge of the big ship whose name escapes me, and a few areas where fighting happens as "real" sets. The rest does not require a great deal of interaction with the surroundings.

That said, reading Eisenhorn REALLY made me thinking of Star Wars. "Hi, I have a -power sword- that can cut through all manner of things, and I can use the -will- to read people's mind, get them to do what I want, or kill them with mind bullets. I travel around right wrongs." Replace -power sword- with -light sabre- and -will- with -Force- and they are suddenly very similar. At least similar enough that a lot of people might get them confused at first glance. However, I think that is very easily over come by keeping the focus away from the power sword and will, and focusing more on the guns and daemons/warp issues.

Y'know, Wehr... my gaming group has discused it, too...
The current trends in movies and FX accomplishments are perfect for a professionally made 40K movie.

Just so happens that we think the Eisenhorn trilogy would be the perfect place to start.

I think a cartoon series, done right, could be a major boon for GW.
Think about it... A Cartoon series that follows a group of (insert Imperial type here) around the galaxy as they fight battles in the name of the Emperor.
Done right, it would draw in kids of ALL ages.
So, there's the start.
Now, GW puts out a linke of action figures from the series.
Kids ALWAYS want action figures from the cartoons they watch.
Eventually, the action figures carry advertisements for GW stores & the GW games.

There's a lot of marketing potential here to bring new people into the hobby. Sure, it starts with kids. All gamers were kids, once (except Malfred... I think you were just spawned as a teenager and grew from there).
Plus, they have the commercial cross over of the older kids and adults who already play the game who will want to collect the action figures.... for CONVERSION PROJECTS, of course!

Eric

Delephont wrote:

malfred wrote:How about a Space Wolf movie?

Young tribal boy travels the wastes wearing nothing but the
furs from his kills for warmth. The movie opens with a shot
following his lean, long strides as the tiniest hint of fur
covers his young, but masculine body. After his first big
kill, where he drives the shaft of his spear deep into the
flank of a big bad wolf, godlike men descend from the
heavens to join him to their society.

"Come with us, and we will shower upon you the golden
blessings of the Emperor's seed."

ermm....did you want it to come across as a homosexual porn movie?

Well if you're just going to come right and SAY it...

Nah, I don't see a kids movie doing it, or even animation. Two reasons.

1) It's too tempting to make it a silly theme, with overly goofy orks etc. Very few American studios do animation with serious themes, and I think doing 40k without a the gritty feel would ruin a lot of the feel. Kid's shows and movies these days are remarkably shallow and stupid. Not that they were ever great (usually being just 30 minute toy ads) but in general they are pretty poor. Which is probably why...

2) Kids watch "grown up" movies all the time. Kids know who the Terminator is, and want the toys. I haven't gone to many movies in the past 5 years, but all the ones I have seen, including 300 (!) have had plenty of youngin's in the crowd.

These two observations have led me to believe that there is really no reason to make a movie that targets kids, which drives off adults. Instead, one does just as well, or better, to make a movie for adults, and simply market it towards the youth. (By "kids" I mean under 12 or 13. After that, they are adolescents, who for all intensive selling purposes are adults.)

I agree that a line of action figures etc. would be a great way to make cash as well as get young people interested in the franchise. You could even have a board game that used the action figures as game peices. I used to have a Masters of the Universe game that did this. I loved that game so much.
I figure though, if there are Alien vs Predator toys for kids, there is no reason why a 40k movie can't be for adults and sell toys to kids.

Really, the main worries I would have about the movie are:

1) It is a 2 hour advertisement for the game, without plot or any proper story. See AvP for example.

2) Too low of a budget to do some of the effects. CGI is cheap comparitively, but low end CGI is horrible. Beast Wars 40k would be miserable to sit through.

One trade off I could see is having CGI like the opening clips to the DoW games. No actors in the flesh, just voices and solid CGI. That could work nicely, since they really seemed to nail the gritty, heavy feel of 40k.

I'm going to throw in another vote for Eisenhorn. It has the deep characters and deep plot lines necessary for translation onto the big screen.

I think CGI (per DoW opening, or some of the Fantasy game CG I've seen) would probably be the only way to actually get the visual density most of the GW art and iconography go for. Beowulf stands as a great example of what is possible. That said, Beowulf was EXPENSIVE, and GW is a completely untested property for such a roll of the $$ dice. That's just the technology to make it happen.

Then you have to consider the storyline you'd want to use. It needs to be fairly accessible, compact, and representative. This also isn't easy in the least, as GW prides itself on layering it's background with dense layers as well. That doesn't mean it's complex, mind you. Just that it's a LOT of simple.

Hostel 3: The Commorragh Chronicles

I think Eisenhorn offers a good example of ways to layer in background without making it over whelming. There are lots of references and such, but they are not really crucial to the story, which is basically just a detective story. None of the elements of 40k are all that nuts, nothing which would be explained in 5 minutes of "history lesson in Inquisitor school". Really the appeal of 40k is that it's main themes are so closely tied to the universal themes in almost all culture's stories and myths.

whitedragon wrote:The 2nd War for Armageddon. Ghazkhul and his orks are busy laying waste to just about everything ...

So what I was saying, except you've presented in much greater detail with a sense of what the film would actually be about. And you went with 2nd War, which I actually agree is a better bet (and may have been what I meant in my confusion over which War for Arma was what!). Closed story line helps, none of this never-ending war gump we have now.

Also, Eisenhorn trilogy would be my second vote for 40k movie too. You get the weird 40k stuff, quasi-epic story line, good characters cause it's Abnet, etc. Only thing is the lack of totally nuts scale. Armageddon can scale as LotR did, down to the heroes and up to the WAR. Eisenhorn I see as dark and intimate, and of course cool as hell too.

- Salvage