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I'm fairly certain he means a big budget movie, but it's been hinted at for awhile that GW doesn't want one since it'd mean relinquishing their hold on part of the IP to the studio.

I think GW's main issue has been that they don't want 40k to get Hollywoodified. no big screen romances between Space marines and that cute SoB he rescued.


40k is better suited to animation, an Adult Anime series would be perfect.

In the UK we have plenty of Independant retailers. I have re-read my post, and edited for politeness and the fact that I got the wrong end of the stick. I apologise for any offence caused.

There are however plenty of Independant games retailers in the UK. Almost all 40k gamers i know buy their GW stuff from direct FLGS or from Online sources, we simply cannot afford the GW highstreet prices.
The other fact is that Retail space in the UK is extremely expensive, and I believe alot more than the US for example. A media blitz for example is ensuring that THQ include a little booklet or media within the video games boxes (it's already going out there so spread the word), sponsorship of key programmes (in the UK we have a centralised TV system in one timezone which means big audiences for key programmes are possible.) For example THQ used SKYOne (4-5 million viewers) at 6pm during the Simpsons to advertise Firewarrior, (which was pretty awful) this was in about 2000 or so. The game shifed a truck load. The US (having been there) is much more difficult as you have much more decentralised media and regional news channels.

The Adult Anime (Codex pictures) is probably the way to go and lets hope that they make some more 40k films (hopefully taking them from 8/10 upto 9/10 or 10/10 (no more turtle necked Marines!)

Thats true, you can't apply things that work in the UK to what works elsewhere in the world(especially considering that most of the market share is outside the UK)

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Then there is the movie aspect. Who knows who could potentially do a GW movie set in any of its universes, but as of right now, there isnt one.

Ultramarines?

Ultramarines is animated though, so it doesnt really count. Also, its not a major motion picture as i assume thats what hes talking about.

Both franchises sport some horrible stories in their licensed fiction - the only difference is that Star Wars at least makes quite a big effort of bringing everything in line to create one consistent universe, whereas Games Workshop just kinda lets writers write their novels as "alternative worlds" without them actually being incorporated into the studio canon, safe for a few exceptions where they went "hey this isn't so bad".

Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages - BL writers themselves have stated they prefer the freedom to interpret and contradict, as it gives them greater artistic license to write what they want. Personally, however, I would wish for more consistency and that licensed material would be reliable enough to expand the given setting rather than "just" being, in the end, high quality fan fiction.

Jollydevil wrote:Ultramarines is animated though, so it doesnt really count.

Well, that's just insulting to an entire medium of film.

I have not seen the Ultramarines movie, so can't comment on its quality. But yes, I was talking about if Fox Studios, or Universal Pictures (or any other large Hollywood outfit) pushed a 40k or WHFB themed movie starring Bruce Willis as the "Good Guy" ™ and makes some sort of live action, or other big budget animated movie of a full length. It's one thing that I don't think that GW will throw their hat into. As has been stated, they would necessarily be forced to give up too much control of their domain to Hollywood. IF they did this, and made a big budget, big studio film, no matter who made the film, there would be huge fans and huge haters. It's inevitable. Some fans will accept whatever small changes are made to make a good movie, and others will be extremely upset that someone could "ruin" 40k like that for them. As a result, I think that GW just wants to play that on the safe side, and not do it at all (or rather, with such a small studio that they can still control everything).

They won't do this, because that would be smart and embracing the 21st century. GW doesn't do either of those things.

Brother SRM wrote:

Jollydevil wrote:Ultramarines is animated though, so it doesnt really count.

Well, that's just insulting to an entire medium of film.

Oh please. You know exactly what i meant.

Jolly, I cannot stop looking at your Avatar....just one more peak. :(

Honestly it wouldn't be that bad. I've seen quite a few flat-out bad bolter porn 40k books and right now 40k is just a geek sub-culture with no obvious mainstream presence. If a serious Hollywood effort was made to make a 40k movie, I hardly think it'd be a disaster. Moreover, anything could beat the Ultramarines movie. That movie showed everything that was wrong with current GW policy.

Lynata wrote:Both franchises sport some horrible stories in their licensed fiction - the only difference is that Star Wars at least makes quite a big effort of bringing everything in line to create one consistent universe, whereas Games Workshop just kinda lets writers write their novels as "alternative worlds" without them actually being incorporated into the studio canon, safe for a few exceptions where they went "hey this isn't so bad".

But, in contrast to Star Wars, all of the different 40k books can actually exist side by side with each other and not step on each other's toes. this is due to the sheer scale of the 40k galaxy. the Star Wars galaxy feels positivly clostriphobic with all the hopping around the galaxy they do.

You can have an adventure start at the Jedi Temple, move to the outer rim, and back to the temple in a weeks time. the Galaxy just isn't that big.

in 40k, it can take weeks to get to the nearest planet.


Perfect example is Episode IV. they leave Tatooine and get to Alderan in a couple of hours. Alderan is almost half way accross the galaxy from Tatooine, at least it is now with the current maps.

We are getting a bit deep in SW here. The main difference is that Star Wars is far more mainstream and well known than GW products, because it is a popular film series. It wasn't a Miniature Game turned to Movie. I think this shows the reach of Movies and the Film industry.

However my own take on this is that the Video Games industry is now bigger than the Film industry so I would suggest Computer Games have a great impact on the younger generations. Film has a wider distribution, my wife doesn't play computer games but she does like films.

Grey Templar wrote:But, in contrast to Star Wars, all of the different 40k books can actually exist side by side with each other and not step on each other's toes. this is due to the sheer scale of the 40k galaxy. the Star Wars galaxy feels positivly clostriphobic with all the hopping around the galaxy they do.

If you mean "exist side by side" in terms of showing different planets, then yes - but the books will still present incompatible ideas because, unlike with Star Wars, Black Library authors have a far greater degree of artistic license are not forced to respect each other's writings (hell, some are even dismissing aspects of studio material because they don't like it), so when one guy describes, say, Catachan like this, the next one may contradict it. The only thing you could hope for is that your books don't go into detail too much or that they all deal with completely unrelated things.

As for Star Wars, its galaxy is big. I've got the Atlas here and it shows me hundreds of planets - and that's just the ones that are noteworthy enough to have an entry. It's merely so that most SW authors prefer to work within established parameters, especially as places like Coruscant or Tattooine are "fan favorites" that sort of combine a very interesting setting for adventures with still-sufficient space to maneuver. Every author there adds to and enlarges the setting, where on the other hand Black Library publications are based on that single writer's own idea, and your chances to see his or her invented planet return are pretty much zero if said author moves on to other projects.

Furthermore, travel times are somewhat subjective in both settings - the nature of hyperspace lanes and gravitational influence in Star Wars means that an author can easily extend passage if he wants a journey to take longer. In fact, speedy hyperspace routes were a highly prized secret during the Clone Wars, and depending on the era you will have scouts setting out to discover new ones. Not to mention that there indeed are still undiscovered areas of space in the SW galaxy even now.
In 40k, I've seen space travel take anything from a few weeks to several years, for about the same distance. Again, GW has not established solid rules for how long things should take, so again it is all left up to author interpretation.

I guess it's a matter of preferences what you'd enjoy more. I like both, and frankly, I'd find it hard to decide. I only know that the Star Wars setting and its canon policy presents a more reliable background, whereas 90% of what people seem to claim as fact about 40k is actually nothing more than some BL author's personal idea from some book they've read, oblivious to both the high chance that it conflicts with another book from another author as well the fact that GW doesn't care much what some freelance writer invented for his licensed product. Just look at how many people think that Dan Abnett's Marine height is the correct one, for example, simply because they like his books and do not know that Jes Goodwin himself has established different standards there.

Grey Templar wrote:

Lynata wrote:Both franchises sport some horrible stories in their licensed fiction - the only difference is that Star Wars at least makes quite a big effort of bringing everything in line to create one consistent universe, whereas Games Workshop just kinda lets writers write their novels as "alternative worlds" without them actually being incorporated into the studio canon, safe for a few exceptions where they went "hey this isn't so bad".

But, in contrast to Star Wars, all of the different 40k books can actually exist side by side with each other and not step on each other's toes. this is due to the sheer scale of the 40k galaxy. the Star Wars galaxy feels positivly clostriphobic with all the hopping around the galaxy they do.

You can have an adventure start at the Jedi Temple, move to the outer rim, and back to the temple in a weeks time. the Galaxy just isn't that big.

in 40k, it can take weeks to get to the nearest planet.


Perfect example is Episode IV. they leave Tatooine and get to Alderan in a couple of hours. Alderan is almost half way accross the galaxy from Tatooine, at least it is now with the current maps.

The Galaxy is really just as big in Star Wars. The difference is travel is a lot easier, hyperdrives allow for near-instant travel anywhere in the Galaxy whereas in 40k Warp Travel/Webway/etc. are all far more perlious and slower. This ease in travel has also led to standardization throughout the Galaxy, a guy in the outer rim will probably read a newspaper about happenings on Courascant whereas in 40k worlds rarely know what's going on in the galaxy in any meaningful fashion.

I remember reading the droid army in the Clone Wars numbered in the quadrillions though. That's probably about the same size as the entire population of the Imperium, Tyranid Hive fleets, etc.. The scale gets ludicrous in Star Wars too. However Star Wars has far more universal consistency/rules for its setting, whereas everything in 40k is inconsistent, made deliberately so by GW. Personally I far prefer the grimdark 40k setting to stars wars more utopic one, but I do think GW could learn from Lucas Arts in some areas.

Harriticus wrote:
I remember reading the droid army in the Clone Wars numbered in the quadrillions though. That's probably about the same size as the entire population of the Imperium, Tyranid Hive fleets, etc.. The scale gets ludicrous in Star Wars too. However Star Wars has far more universal consistency/rules for its setting, whereas everything in 40k is inconsistent, made deliberately so by GW. Personally I far prefer the grimdark 40k setting to stars wars more utopic one, but I do think GW could learn from Lucas Arts in some areas.

To be fair...

The "quadrillions" for the Droid Army is what we saw being thrown out by political commentators and the like. This was happening in the "Republic Commando" book series, and in several of the short stories we saw the Commandos actively scoffing at this due to the fact that they had infiltrated and sabotaged many of these construction facilities for the droids. They knew there was no real way that "quadrillions" were possible.

The title says you want GW to pimp out, bastardize, ass rape, and murder the IP.

Though they could do better to expand by settling for lower levels in malls. I think the GW in my city(by that i mean the one in Arlington being closest to grand prairie) went out of the Parks Mall some time before 2000 because they couldn't keep the spot or something. Certainly wasn't for lack of people but they pulled a store out of the reasonable grasp of Grand Prairie, Cedar Hill, south Arlington, and Mansfield. 4 cities already lacking in comic shops now we didn't get a Games workshop store. I may have been a kid when i went to that store but it beat the gak out of nothing at all. But we have 3 clustered in Carrollton, Plano, and Denton all less than 10 miles away from each other. If i want to go to one i need to save gas money for my gas guzzling truck, save for models, save for water(texas, truck with no AC, its an old dodge solid metal vehicle), clear my weekends Saturday for the trip, and prepare myself mentally for being stuck in 30 miles of traffic all day. GW could do a lot to expand by making a few more stores. People do in fact see the ENTIRE mall so waiting to get the high spot is bull gak.

But to follow the Lucas Arts model would be to sell the IP out as much as possible by any means necessary and i hope they never do that.

As far as continuity goes i wish they did; as it is half of what they make amounts to little more than bad fan fiction instead of actual contributions payed for by GW.