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I think the best approach to a 40k movie would be to make it just a movie. You can use the rich background and gotchic feel without having to explain everything. Just like the best Black Library books are "just books" that _just happen_ to be in the 40k universe. Horus Heresy series excluded, of course.

It's like everytime they make a Batman movie they have to show close ups of batarangs. We know what a batarang is, we know what the Batmobile is. What they should do is make a Batman movie that's just a movie where they don't insist on explaining everything.

I like the Inquisitor vs Sisters idea.

Personally I always thought the horus heresy itself would be a great film.. and I think starting with that would be a great way to test the waters and see if the franchise could work. Though, it could also be done as a prequel after the fact.

I really think what today's joe public movie audience would like best is an imperium vs chaos kind of story.

You can't do tyranids, people will say they copied Aliens or Starship Troopers. Because the general public will have no idea what the rest of the game universe is like. So that's out. You can't do necrons, because people will say you copied the terminator. No Tau, they're too Anime looking. Eldar... well, no one will buy the space elf idea nor space orks for that matter... everyone would think they're stupid in a bad way.

So you're pretty much left with humans vs chaos. And it would have to either be a no holes bared war movie, like the beginning of saving private ryan, but 2 hours long. Or an inquisition themed story maybe something like the Eisenhorn books.

They can't make a movie that only the 40k fans will relate to, because only the 40k fans will watch it, it won't make any money, and there will never be another GW film again, because all the film industry wants is money and more money. So they'd have to go with subject matter that the masses could handle and/or relate to in some way.

Posted By Delephont on 10/08/2007 9:48 AM

Posted By Maximus_Prime on 10/08/2007 7:03 AM
If there's a 40k movie, It better have The Rock >_>

Errrmmm, NO! The Rock is American, and everyone knows Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and in fact all Imperial Forces are British.....

You Americans have your Marvel Super Heroes, and Colonial space marines, but the Emperors finest are from good old UK, in fact I think they all come from Hereford you know!

I'm trying to read the opening page of the book with a British accent and it just doesn't sound epic. I'm also imagining the Dawn of War phrases in a Brit accent and it's also less appealing.

Posted By Delephont on 10/08/2007 9:48 AM

Posted By Maximus_Prime on 10/08/2007 7:03 AM
If there's a 40k movie, It better have The Rock >_>

Errrmmm, NO! The Rock is American, and everyone knows Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and in fact all Imperial Forces are British.....

You Americans have your Marvel Super Heroes, and Colonial space marines, but the Emperors finest are from good old UK, in fact I think they all come from Hereford you know!

Valhallans = British. OK...

Posted By fourganger88 on 10/04/2007 2:16 PM
How about the following ideas;

1. A lone Necron warrior crash is teleported back in time to kill the Emperor's mother. But the Imps send back Gaunt to help.
2. Imperial stormtroopers and Sentinels storm the forest base of some furry squats.
3. A lone genestealer makes its way onto a commercial space hulk and plays havoc with the crew.

All great ideas right?

I like your style...

Valhalans = Russian.

BYE

The trouble with not explaining things in general with 40k is that the majority of the population has no idea what a space marine is, so when a 9 foot man in huge armor takes a heavy bolter burst in the chest and spits acid in derision, 80% of the audience (to be optimistic) is going to respond "WTF?!" Everyone knows what a wizard is, so maybe a psyker would be quick and easy to explain. Too much of what space marines do is explained by "they are super human genetically engineered soldiers in amazing armor etc etc." to really just gloss over it. Of course, you could always make them more mortal as they are in the table top game and less like the fluff, but I think you would still need to explain a lot of the aspects that are wholly foriegn to our world.

As to orks and eldar, I think they would make decent antagonists actually. Eldar type races have already appeared in film as Vulcans and Romulans, and their back story is a constant theme in human literature, that of the fallen but once mighty people. The downside is that they are a little too sympathetic to be a direct adversary, but as a shadey ally/enemy they really work.
Orks are a similar human theme given prominance, that of the warlike savage. Their inherent lust for violence and killing for its own sake is pretty much what we look for in someone we love to hate, while their humorous nature also makes them sort of charming in an odd way. A big, ugly green race of monsters witha cokney accent and a desire to destroy everything in front of them... you don't get better "big picture" villains than that.

The Schwarznegger and various supersoldier movies have been around for quite some time. In fact, I can imagine that people will yawn when they see yet-another-supersoldier-clone.

I agree with everything else except that LOTR already showed people how elves can be a*$%&*)s.

OK, this has wandered to beyond both News and Rumors.  If you'd like to continue this line of thought, please start a thread in Dakka Discussions.

Thank you.