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 Agent_Tremolo wrote:
Yep, make him and the BL crowd consultants, base the script in one of his novels (I'd settle for either Necropolis or Horus Rising) but put some Hollywood screenwriter in charge.

As long as it is not Bob Orci and/or Damon Lindelof, I'll be fine.

Oh, and get Guillermo del Toro to direct it!.

Del Toro makes great movies, but they don't sell particularly well.

Well, Kain, my second option was Tarsem Singh. That one sells even worse!

 Agent_Tremolo wrote:
Well, Kain, my second option was Tarsem Singh. That one sells even worse!

You could go with Speilberg. There are plenty of people who would pay to watch something just for having his name stamped on it.

 Kain wrote:

 Agent_Tremolo wrote:
Well, Kain, my second option was Tarsem Singh. That one sells even worse!

You could go with Speilberg. There are plenty of people who would pay to watch something just for having his name stamped on it.

A.I was directed by him and the screen story written by Ian Watson, maybe he would pick up Inquisition War or Space Marine

Spielberg did an excellent job with Tintin, and War of the Worlds proves he's more than able to handle the grimdark. Add his interest in religious themes and father-son relationships and bingo, instant Horus Heresy movie (with an almost certainly good critical reception).

But still I'd go with Del Toro. If someone can capture the lush visual style of 40k, it's him. And if rumors are to be believed, he's a huge 40k geek...

 Agent_Tremolo wrote:
Spielberg did an excellent job with Tintin, and War of the Worlds proves he's more than able to handle the grimdark. Add his interest in religious themes and father-son relationships and bingo, instant Horus Heresy movie (with an almost certainly good critical reception).

But still I'd go with Del Toro. If someone can capture the lush visual style of 40k, it's him. And if rumors are to be believed, he's a huge 40k geek...

Compromise; Speilberg produces the movie, but Del Toro directs it.

TBH,I think a better writer for a movie would be 'Sandy Mitchell', the writer of the Ciaphas Cain Novels.

He portrayed IG, Marines and multiple Xenos in accurate and interesting situations. I also find his books/ stories very entertaining and believe he'd be good for a script.

I haven't read the full thread and all responses yet but i would just like to point out one thing about a 40k movie.

It cant really be about a space marine and be 'good.' There would be no underlying depth to the movie because space marines are essentially 'robots' due to the psychological conditioning and manufacture process. They are war machines that really need to be 'frozen' between wars and only used on imperial sanction.

If anyone has ever seen the film 'Solider' with Kurt Russel you're getting about as close to reality of what they are supposed to be. I know that since then they've tried to fluff them up a bit to give them more character, but honestly they just wouldn't actually have that much character. They might be a bit more vocal than Kurt Russell's character but i cant imagine them having many intrinsic human characteristics.

Then again i guess they could do anything with the fluff/movie because really it doesn't matter.

 Kain wrote:
GW can't afford to finance a two hundred million dollar movie.

Mmhhh... Let me deviate a tiny bit: there is a fan made short movie in the star wars universe "Dark Resurrection vol. 0", which has been aknowledged by Lucas and did cost, iirc, 6k euros (or 9. But I'm confident it's the former).
I mean that the huge production is not fundamental to make a nice product.
Starting with an 'inquisitorial' or ig (short) movie/webseries may obtain more consensus and audience (think also about the three "The Gamers" movies or the web series "JourneyQuest").

MarsNZ wrote:

 Gorgrimm wrote:

Imperial Fists died too quickly

Wait, the Imperial Fists died to quickly? Did you manage to catch the Black Legion in the 5 seconds before they suicided enmasse? Guess the EoT corrodes their armour rather drastically huh...

Also some of the dialogue was really bad, even from Terence. The plot was pretty poor, the twist (singular) was predictable, as was the ending. The villains were a complete joke, for the brief moment we saw them, and for a movie which hyped the CG there were quite a few moments when I wondered to myself "How the hell did that slip through?"

No no no, I meant I would rather have seen the good guys be IFs and I like them. And yes that is something I forgot to say, the Black Legion died pretty quickly other than the guy on the cliff. I do like the scene where they charged, but we all know unless that was cultists it was far too one sided.

I think the biggest thing wrong was the production, where one moment the shot is elaborate and the next the background looks like a cartoon background.

Can you imagine the pitch for a mainstream 40k movie?

So there is this ruthless theocracy commanded by a 10,000 year old corpse on life support. Under his aegis heretics on thousands of planets are burned alive. People with psychic powers are enslaved and shipped off to be sacrificed by this dark empire so their souls can power the navigation beacon that keeps their space lanes open. Religiously fanatical cloned superhumans with huge weapons stamp down any hint of rebellion or impurity. Alien races are hated and feared. The good guys? No, these are the good guys !

How do you get the sympathy of a mainstream audience with this?

Your best bet would be something like Firefly and the Empire would just have to be the bad guys.

Or, more likely, the studio would just rip the source material to bits and make it unrecognizable.

DavidJonas wrote:
Can you imagine the pitch for a mainstream 40k movie?

So there is this ruthless theocracy commanded by a 10,000 year old corpse on life support. Under his aegis heretics on thousands of planets are burned alive. People with psychic powers are enslaved and shipped off to be sacrificed by this dark empire so their souls can power the navigation beacon that keeps their space lanes open. Religiously fanatical cloned superhumans with huge weapons stamp down any hint of rebellion or impurity. Alien races are hated and feared. The good guys? No, these are the good guys !

How do you get the sympathy of a mainstream audience with this?

Your best bet would be something like Firefly and the Empire would just have to be the bad guys.

Or, more likely, the studio would just rip the source material to bits and make it unrecognizable.

They filmed Atlas Shrugged in 3 parts. If *that* can get funding, 40k is a shoo-in.

 Psienesis wrote:

DavidJonas wrote:
Can you imagine the pitch for a mainstream 40k movie?

So there is this ruthless theocracy commanded by a 10,000 year old corpse on life support. Under his aegis heretics on thousands of planets are burned alive. People with psychic powers are enslaved and shipped off to be sacrificed by this dark empire so their souls can power the navigation beacon that keeps their space lanes open. Religiously fanatical cloned superhumans with huge weapons stamp down any hint of rebellion or impurity. Alien races are hated and feared. The good guys? No, these are the good guys !

How do you get the sympathy of a mainstream audience with this?

Your best bet would be something like Firefly and the Empire would just have to be the bad guys.

Or, more likely, the studio would just rip the source material to bits and make it unrecognizable.

They filmed Atlas Shrugged in 3 parts. If *that* can get funding, 40k is a shoo-in.

Ah but Atlas Shrugged has lolberterian randroids to count on as an audience.

I think they could use this as a perfect way to advance the plot a bit and make money (and even possibly get some people in to the hobby). They could make it a movie about the 15th black crusade.

I would rather see a guard based movie with a little space marine presence.

Guard based movie would have a wider appeal I think. Throw in some or two marines and some mechanicum dudes. But the story should be told from a guardsmans perspective.

Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

You will of course provide evidence and not talk out of your hindquarters right?

Just find the guys from Relic that made the DOW intro movies and have them animate 20 three minute scenes, like the Clone Wars miniseries (the cartoon, not the CGI Lucas followup).

Have the same guy direct.

Then go for a movie with a similar plot to the Ultramarine game. Show the initial ork invasion. Show the guard heroically dying en-mass. Then drop your space marine squad and have them rip up in style like the battle scene from 13 Assassins. Have the handful of survivors embark to the next mission with the remaining IG squad in tow.

No need for complicated subplots. No need for romance. Just one big action scene.

 insaniak wrote:

 thepowerfulwill wrote:
Good suggestion, but I meant out of the GW writers, not

Other than Abnett, do any of GW's writers have any experience with screenplays?

Being able to write a good book (or a bad one, for that matter) is no guarantee of ability to write a good screenplay. Case in point: Stephen King.

Did Abnett, before he butchered Ultramarines?

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

You will of course provide evidence and not talk out of your hindquarters right?

Evidence on what, exactly?

You want me to explain all the ins and outs of the entire film industry to you, or suddenly produce a survey of 1000 British people on what they think of Warhammer. Because I can do neither. However, if you've read up a little on how the film industry works - heck, if you just have the IMDb app and check it every day - and if you're a young adult living in the UK, you'll know what I'm on about.

But, seriously, what do you want me to explain?

I don't see it happening, since Hollywood is all about money and they love to change things so it works for them, and they don't care about the fluff, even if its been around for 25 years like 40K has been.

If they did do it, would have to be a huge battle movie, not like Ultramarine, and the squad level stuff. More like Star Wars, or Starship Troopers.

I think Dan Abnett would be a great author to use, but I think a group of them together would be better.

Now would this be another CGI movie, or live action?

 The Shadow wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

You will of course provide evidence and not talk out of your hindquarters right?

Evidence on what, exactly?

You want me to explain all the ins and outs of the entire film industry to you, or suddenly produce a survey of 1000 British people on what they think of Warhammer. Because I can do neither. However, if you've read up a little on how the film industry works - heck, if you just have the IMDb app and check it every day - and if you're a young adult living in the UK, you'll know what I'm on about.

But, seriously, what do you want me to explain?

I'm pretty sure most of the British Youth outside of London, Manchester, or similarly big cities have never really heard of Warhammer much less care about it. And stating what you perceive is entirely useless as scientific evidence as it is nothing more than an anecdote and should be dismissed as such.

It's not quite Doctor Who in terms of cultural dominance over your country.

Durandal wrote:
Just find the guys from Relic that made the DOW intro movies and have them animate 20 three minute scenes, like the Clone Wars miniseries (the cartoon, not the CGI Lucas followup).

Have the same guy direct.

Then go for a movie with a similar plot to the Ultramarine game. Show the initial ork invasion. Show the guard heroically dying en-mass. Then drop your space marine squad and have them rip up in style like the battle scene from 13 Assassins. Have the handful of survivors embark to the next mission with the remaining IG squad in tow.

No need for complicated subplots. No need for romance. Just one big action scene.

I'll vote for that.

but yeah-make it about the Guard, since no one can connect to the marines the way they are; some regular guy with some crappy weapon fighting impossible odds; got civilian, marines at the end, Tech-Priests for the chimeras, chimeras, throw in a Psyker in the lot for some laughs and you got a movie.

And giving the script to Hollywood will just turn it into some crap fest like the kind they've been feeding us for a decade or two now; love story, handsome 'average factory worker' (possibly the one one with straight white teeth in the whole galaxy), mandatory tough woman (who is also beautiful and with straight white teeth, but in a strong female type of way, except when with the 'average factory worker', then she's just some sexy bimbo in fatigues), minorities (not a bad thing per se, but 40k got a tendency to put it as 1 race=1 planet, except on Catachan they got both black and white living in that hell hole), for the sake of today's world, couple of gays (or just one for comic relief) and let's not forget the mandatory social commentary about how 9/11 was an inside job/social injustice is wrong and the rich are evil/ how one person can change the whole Imperium/war is bad-peace is good/everyone is master of it,s own destiny etc etc,...

Inquisitor Jex wrote:

Durandal wrote:
Just find the guys from Relic that made the DOW intro movies and have them animate 20 three minute scenes, like the Clone Wars miniseries (the cartoon, not the CGI Lucas followup).

Have the same guy direct.

Then go for a movie with a similar plot to the Ultramarine game. Show the initial ork invasion. Show the guard heroically dying en-mass. Then drop your space marine squad and have them rip up in style like the battle scene from 13 Assassins. Have the handful of survivors embark to the next mission with the remaining IG squad in tow.

No need for complicated subplots. No need for romance. Just one big action scene.

I'll vote for that.

but yeah-make it about the Guard, since no one can connect to the marines the way they are; some regular guy with some crappy weapon fighting impossible odds; got civilian, marines at the end, Tech-Priests for the chimeras, chimeras, throw in a Psyker in the lot for some laughs and you got a movie.

And giving the script to Hollywood will just turn it into some crap fest like the kind they've been feeding us for a decade or two now; love story, handsome 'average factory worker' (possibly the one one with straight white teeth in the whole galaxy), mandatory tough woman (who is also beautiful and with straight white teeth, but in a strong female type of way, except when with the 'average factory worker', then she's just some sexy bimbo in fatigues), minorities (not a bad thing per se, but 40k got a tendency to put it as 1 race=1 planet, except on Catachan they got both black and white living in that hell hole), for the sake of today's world, couple of gays (or just one for comic relief) and let's not forget the mandatory social commentary about how 9/11 was an inside job/social injustice is wrong and the rich are evil/ how one person can change the whole Imperium/war is bad-peace is good/everyone is master of it,s own destiny etc etc,...

Hollywood has always fed you crappy movies. Nostalgia just prevents you from remembering anything but the most spectacularly bad films or the most stellarly good ones. I garauntee you that in two decades times, most movies save for the likes of Avatar the Last Airbender (for the crap end) and the Dark Knight saga (for the good end) will be largely forgotten and people will start griping about how it was all so much better in the twenty tens.

Star Wars wasn't a huge battle movie. Sure, it had a few huge battle scenes, but it's always been a space opera. Later, a space soap opera.

Starship Troopers is one guy putting a film together based on a book he liked, ramping up the sexiness by about 500%, and filming the movie he wanted to film. That it deviates from the book a significant amount is not due to studio interference but directorial prerogative.

Hand it to someone with the clout and the resources to do it, and they will film it anyway they like. Someone like James Cameron, who puts blue cat-people in space and makes two billion dollars. I don't think Cameron is a 40K fan though. In fact, the only Hollywood 40K fan I can think of is Vin Diesel... and while the Riddick series are fun space-action flicks with a good anti-hero protagonist, major money-makers they are not.

No need for complicated subplots. No need for romance. Just one big action scene.

That is, unfortunately, boring.

BrianDavion wrote:
I think step 1 would be to address what the movie would have to focus on. Space Marines are iconic to 40k, I think they'd have to be shown in the movie and given a chance to do awesome stuff. at the same time, Space Marines may have issues being the protagionist. given whom they are. a more human main char would be needed. this doesn't nesscarily mean we can't have Marines as a huge focal point (ADB's nightlords series is a good mix of the human and the marine. as it the earlier HH books with their rememberancers) so a Marine movie would likely need a human protagionist to act as the "viewing lens" The Transformers movies are a good example of this too. (and show some of the weakness inheriant in it)

I have no interest in a Space Marine movie, but I agree with you. If you're going to have Space Marines, they should not be the protagonists. They should not be the standard by which the denizens of the 40k universe are measured, because it diminishes both them and everyone else.

DavidJonas wrote:
How do you get the sympathy of a mainstream audience with this?

By not being deliberately incompetent. I could make a pitch for a mainstream 40k film, even if you can't.

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do.

If Space Marines can't work then don't make the movie about Space Marines. It's not difficult.

As I've said before, Faith and Fire is an exceptionally self contained introduction to the setting. You don't need any of that crap about the Horus Heresy, the lure of Chaos or Ork psychology.

This is everything you need to know for Faith and Fire to work:
1. Psychics exist.
2. Psychics make bad things happen if left to their own devices.
3. Psychics used to be left to their own devices, and bad things happened.
4. The Emperor stopped psychics being left to their own devices and stopped the bad things happening.
5. The Ecclesiarchy thinks the Emperor is great because he stopped the bad things happening.
6. Psychics hate the Ecclessiarchy because they want to be left to their own devices.

That's it. A two minute voiceover as Miriya is praying to the Emperor in the opening scene of the book, and the audience knows everything they need to know about the 41st Millennium.

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

You will of course provide evidence and not talk out of your hindquarters right?

Evidence on what, exactly?

You want me to explain all the ins and outs of the entire film industry to you, or suddenly produce a survey of 1000 British people on what they think of Warhammer. Because I can do neither. However, if you've read up a little on how the film industry works - heck, if you just have the IMDb app and check it every day - and if you're a young adult living in the UK, you'll know what I'm on about.

But, seriously, what do you want me to explain?

I'm pretty sure most of the British Youth outside of London, Manchester, or similarly big cities have never really heard of Warhammer much less care about it. And stating what you perceive is entirely useless as scientific evidence as it is nothing more than an anecdote and should be dismissed as such.

It's not quite Doctor Who in terms of cultural dominance over your country.

Fairly sure that I, being a resident of the UK, have a more credible opinion over yourself, being a resident of South Africa, with regards to the attitude of UK residents. That's like me telling you what South Africans thought of Nelson Mandela's passing.

And no, it's not Doctor Who. But Doctor Who is a television programme that has been running for 50 years, as opposed to a toy soldier collecting hobby that has been running for half that. However, you can find a GW in most cities here and many schools will have a wargaming club. Really, up until sixth form, when people got more mature, whenever our form teacher would announce something to do with Warhammer club, it would be accompanied by many sarcastic jibes. My local GW still gets people hanging around outside taking the mic every now and again, and I reckon it'd get more, were it not relatively tucked away.

To put it bluntly, whenever a sci-fi film, or any film for that matter, opened on a Friday, lots of people from school would go down and see it. That would not really happen if there was a Warhammer film, because less people would want to be seen watching a Warhammer film.

 AlexHolker wrote:

This is everything you need to know for Faith and Fire to work:
1. Psychics exist.
2. Psychics make bad things happen if left to their own devices.
3. Psychics used to be left to their own devices, and bad things happened.
4. The Emperor stopped psychics being left to their own devices and stopped the bad things happening.
5. The Ecclesiarchy thinks the Emperor is great because he stopped the bad things happening.
6. Psychics hate the Ecclessiarchy because they want to be left to their own devices.

That's it. A two minute voiceover as Miriya is praying to the Emperor in the opening scene of the book, and the audience knows everything they need to know about the 41st Millennium.

But this is the point!

Replace "Emperor" in your description with any other term to mean a ruler, and "Ecclesiarchy" with something like "Church" and you could be describing the plot of any film or novel set in any universe. A movie studio would not pay GW to make such a film, because they would not have to. They could quite easily create a very similar film whilst still giving the 40k universe a wide birth.

 The Shadow wrote:
But this is the point!

Replace "Emperor" in your description with any other term to mean a ruler and you could be describing the plot of any film or novel set in any universe. A movie studio would not pay GW to make such a film, because they would not have to.

I'm not talking about the plot, but the mandatory prerequisite knowledge. The less the audience must know in advance for things to make sense, the better.

For another example: Iron Man. Iron Man requires even less mandatory prerequisite knowledge, because any dumbass can figure out "Flying robot armour = good". Despite what you apparently believe, this is a strength, not a weakness, because it means you don't have to bore the audience to death throwing exposition at them before you can get things started.

 The Shadow wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 The Shadow wrote:
Anyone who knows the film industry at all will know that a 40k movie, taken directly from the 40k Universe, would not work. Even if a big studio accepted it, they likely would not be content with idea of those massive shoulder pads and the close combat, because it's not what a normal sci-fi film would do. Remember that the 40k playing community is a very small portion of the potential viewers. Sure, I'd bet the vast majority of 40k fans would go to see it, but that alone would constitute a massive flop. 40k has a great basis to be a great sci-fi film, but needs some huge changes.

And would it benefit GW that much? Well, it's a tricky one. If done correctly, yes, GW's business would boom, but there's the issue of linking Warhammer and the film. Now, admittedly, I don't know about the situation over in the US (where, let's face it, a film makes most of its money, generally speaking), but here in the UK, the "Warhammer" trademark carries a huge stigma. Most young people I know would be put off by seeing the movie because of the link with "warhammer". Less so for adults, but some still would follow this demographic. GW couldn't link themselves too close to the movie, for fear of putting people off.

But that's the main problem. A decent (decent here meaning highly profitable) sci-fi film is probably going to need a budget of upwards of $100 million, and GW just can't afford to pay that amount of money. As we've seen recently, they have financial issues of their own to worry about. This doesn't necessarily stop the production of a film, but why would any movie studio pay for the rights to the 40k universe, risk losing viewers to brand-stigma, when they could quite easily create another sci-fi film and universe from scratch. All they lose out on is a few guaranteed viewers.

You will of course provide evidence and not talk out of your hindquarters right?

Evidence on what, exactly?

You want me to explain all the ins and outs of the entire film industry to you, or suddenly produce a survey of 1000 British people on what they think of Warhammer. Because I can do neither. However, if you've read up a little on how the film industry works - heck, if you just have the IMDb app and check it every day - and if you're a young adult living in the UK, you'll know what I'm on about.

But, seriously, what do you want me to explain?

I'm pretty sure most of the British Youth outside of London, Manchester, or similarly big cities have never really heard of Warhammer much less care about it. And stating what you perceive is entirely useless as scientific evidence as it is nothing more than an anecdote and should be dismissed as such.

It's not quite Doctor Who in terms of cultural dominance over your country.

Fairly sure that I, being a resident of the UK, have a more credible opinion over yourself, being a resident of South Africa, with regards to the attitude of UK residents. That's like me telling you what South Africans thought of Nelson Mandela's passing.

And no, it's not Doctor Who. But Doctor Who is a television programme that has been running for 50 years, as opposed to a toy soldier collecting hobby that has been running for half that. However, you can find a GW in most cities here and many schools will have a wargaming club. Really, up until sixth form, when people got more mature, whenever our form teacher would announce something to do with Warhammer club, it would be accompanied by many sarcastic jibes. My local GW still gets people hanging around outside taking the mic every now and again, and I reckon it'd get more, were it not relatively tucked away.

To put it bluntly, whenever a sci-fi film, or any film for that matter, opened on a Friday, lots of people from school would go down and see it. That would not really happen if there was a Warhammer film, because less people would want to be seen watching a Warhammer film.

I don't really care for South Africa's culture, this country's little more than a temporary stay before I move to greener pastures. Preferably back to Russia. Mandela died, it was sad sure, but meant nothing to me personally and I honestly don't care to speak to my neighbors past the electrically wired barbed walls of the doom fortress I call an adobe here.

And you're just one man living in one city. You and your experiences, statistically, cannot be representative of a nation of over sixty million. Especially a culturally fractured mess like the United Kingdom where not only do you have four different countries under one union but each of these countries has innumerable cultural divisions within themselves. Ergo, I can fairly dismiss any of your personal experiences as anecdotal rubbish with no scientific value. Now if you came back with polls from a hundred thousand of the UK youth I might be interested, but as a scientist by profession I am obligated to dismiss your experiences.

Warhammer is a niche franchise known mostly to internet geeks and wargamers and is substantially more popular in the United States than it is in the United Kingdom where Fantasy battle is conversely, more prevalent than it is in America. If I were to ask some clansman in the scottish High Lands or a Welsh Sheep Farmer about Warhammer he'd probably give me the oddest look before walking away. If I asked a random Londoner, I'd get maybe a very vague sort of recollection, but nothing truly concrete.

There simply aren't enough players of the game to have anywhere near the cultural relevance you are describing.

You made the claim regarding 40k's cultural relevance, the burden of proof is on you to provide scientific evidence for it.

If you cannot, then you must concede the argument to me.

Fairly sure that I, being a resident of the UK, have a more credible opinion over yourself, being a resident of South Africa, with regards to the attitude of UK residents. That's like me telling you what South Africans thought of Nelson Mandela's passing.

Are you a sociologist? No? Then your opinion on what society thinks is unqualified and just as valid as mine, which is to say not at all.

As far as an opening to the movie?

Have a Ron Pearlman voiceover. "It is the 41st millennium...", that same scrawl that opens all the Black Library novels. He can end it with the same tone he ends the Fallout opening speech "...in the grim future of the 41st milennium, there is only war!"

That sixty-second read tells us everything we need to know about the setting. While it's going on, you have fly-bys of iconic images of 40K, sweeping through a Hive or something so that we can get a view of the tech, the grimdark, the huge cathedrals, the people, the Inquisition at work, psykers, and then ending at some golden-armored, shadow-shrouded form on a giant, baroque golden throne.

Cut away, main character wakes up, having had a dream of Terra. Story begins.