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So I watched this, it's not bad at all... and it got me to thinking about the one and perhaps only disappointing thing about warhammer 40,000 which is it has yet to make a successful movie that gained much renown. I think their board games, tabletop, rpgs, and video game incarnations have all great but i am a fan, the one saving grace to an outsider is i think all these things have brought new people to an interested point. But in the various attempts that have been made in the past i think it's because (and I am going to cringe to say this) but I think 40k focuses too much on it's fluff and universe to become easily absorbed by the commoner. I honestly think that maybe going with the imperial guard might be a good idea for a intro movie with perhaps a singular space marine scout or the like to gently roll them into the story.

anyway take a look at this movie called seed, I think it summarizes well how a good human centric attempt could be turned into a addictive movie which slowly becomes what we are 40k fans want.

http://vimeo.com/52045867

There are several issues with making a 40k movie. I went to one of the few live showings of the Ultramarines movie where the producer came out afterwards and talked a bit about the production.


1) it took 5 years to raise the money for the Ultramarines movie, and that movie only costed about 5 million to produce. A large scale Sci-Fi movie generally has a budget in the hundreds on millions of dollars.

40k does not lend itself to a small scale production very well. Much of the appeal of 40k is the grand scale of everything. Armies that number in the millions slugging it out over hundreds on years. This is also difficult to portray on film. A movie about a small guard group or a single scout would not really feel like a 40k movie. It would be more of a generic Sci-Fi movie with the 40k label on it.



2) Part of the issue with raising the money is that GW did not want their IP to be watered down. A common thing to do is to make a Generic Genre movie and then slap a well know name onto it in order to tap into a pre-made market of fans. By keeping the movie rather generic, you also attract non-fans as well. For an example look at the "Dungeons and Dragons" movie. There was really nothing specific to that movie, other than the title, that made it specifically D+D.

The specific issue was the fact the the Space Marines are all Male and have no romantic interests. Apparently GW has turned down some other scripts for a 40k movie, because they had a Space Marine with a romantic interest.



3) 40k is difficult to write a script for. There is the classic statement that there are no "good guys" in 40k. Each race has some dark side to it that would make it difficult to portray as the "hero" in a movie with out watering down one of the core aspects of 40k.

Secondly, the 40k fluff is build to not have a lot of specific stories in it. It is build so you can create your own stories within the 40k world. All of the good stories in 40k come from 30k (the Horus Heresy). That is the reason that it is best selling part of the the Black Library.



Personally, I think that if there was to be another 40k movie, I would like to see a Horus Heresy series. However, it compounds the budget issues as now you are talking about an entire series of large scale movies, instead of just a single one.

Ultramarines was also a terrible film in terms of script, voice acting and the godawful animation and rendering.

40k has far too many different storylines that are interconnected or influenced by other things that make a film far too hard to make.

It would fill a very small niche that simply isn't as profitable, you can't charge for a film like you can for plastic minis, so it's much harder to make a profit for something like a 40k movie.

Dunno. That SEED thing is a good little short-film

But it is in just about every way the exact opposite of everything Warhammer 40K is trying to do aesthetically and story-wise.

SEED was pretty good, but Moon handled a very similar theme far, far better, and a couple years ago. If you liked it you should really check it out, but don't spoil it for yourself by watching the trailer! It's very, very good.

A decent 40k movie would have to focus on the human aspect of the characters, or else it would just end up being a lot of sound and flash. This is true of 40k novels as well though; the Night Lords books rule because ADB writes distinctive characters well. I'd love to live in a world where there could be movies based on British wargames with a dedicated niche audience that could get hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into them, but I don't think it'll happen.

The Ultramarines disaster has more or less demonstrated we'll never get a good 40k movie. It'd require budget and production teams outside of the price range.

Why not a non computer animation?

Deff Skadron was damn good and I don't see that how couldn't make a good cartoon movie. Get some convinsing ork voice actors and bam you got an amazing film.

If you take a look at spawn animated series you'll see that it relies on good script (deff skwadron has it) and voice acting. The characters usually don't have huge amount of movement to them. There is movement when it's needed.

I maintain that a movie based on the Eisenhorn storyline would work best from both a budget sense as well as widespread appeal.

Assuming GW/Someone had enough pocket change lying around to do this....

1. CGI or "real life" would be ideal for a 40k movie. A cartoon/animation of any kind would alienate a fair section of the fan base (in my experience).

2. The plot really has to go one of 3 routes to keep the 40k feel and still be palatable to non-40k observers.
A. Full on War film (ex Storm of Iron, Battle for the Fang)
B. Squad action film (ex 15 Hours, other guard squad ideas)
C. Exploration/Quest film (ex Priests of Mars, Eisenhorn, etc)

3. It would be a big (john carter sized) gamble.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As well, it would have to have Space Marines in it in some capacity....they are the quintessential element of the 40k universe.

 Zweischneid wrote:
Dunno. That SEED thing is a good little short-film

But it is in just about every way the exact opposite of everything Warhammer 40K is trying to do aesthetically and story-wise.

No, I can imagine some aspects of 40k looking like that; ever seen the Elysian Drop troops? Their goggles also have built in video feed and all that cool stuff

PresidentOfAsia wrote:

No, I can imagine some aspects of 40k looking like that; ever seen the Elysian Drop troops? Their goggles also have built in video feed and all that cool stuff

True. But I would argue that Elysian Drop Troops were made specifically to appeal and draw-in people liking a more Halo/Near-Future Scif-Fi look. Just like DKOK were made to hook people with a fetish for WWI. The "historical wargames" and "military modellers" crowd out there is huge and GW clearly wants to tap into it.

But it's not really what sets the "core" aesthetic of 40K, which is probably more Space-Elf-Wizards on Flying Bikes clashing with Dual-Chain-Saw-Wielding Armour-Hulks before a backdrop of skull-encrusted gothic ruins and roaring Titans stalking over armies stretching from horizon to horizon in the far background.

I think a IG based movie would be much more appealing to a non-Warhammer audience. Being mere men and women in uniform fighting the worst the galaxy has to offer they are much more relatable then all male 7 foot tall walking tanks.

Elements like "love intrest" and all that stuff could exist because of the movie centering around an IG regiement. As long as they don't fight Tyranids in the movie no one will cry "Star Ship Troopers!"

I like Starship Troopers as much as the next guy. But Starship Troopers lost them about 50 Million Dollars. It wasn't what you'd call a successful movie.

Sci-fi army movies, generic or with a touch of 40K flavour, aren't exactly the thing that makes Hollywood producers giddy with excitement.

Personally, I always thought the siege of Vervunhive from Gaunt's Ghosts would make for a good series of movies. The main characters are nice and human and thus prone to character flaws, the local aristocracy feths things up time and time again, and the enemies are bat-gak crazy and largely dehumanized. I always pictured it would play out similar to Band of Brothers or The Pacific. Unfortunately, it has very little in what people typify with 40k; aka, no SM, Eldar, or Orks. Just humans and insane humans with some mutations going for them.

Unfortunately, the chances of getting a globally accepted "good" 40k movie is very slim. This is due to the audiences relative attention span of 90 minutes and our fandom and nit-pickery. If the movie shows a space marine tactical squad being slaughtered by banshees/wraiths/nobs/genestealers, SM supporters would complain that the SM were depicted as too weak (Especially if the SM army actually lost the war). If those same Space Marines stomp mud holes in the aforementioned units, players of those races would complain as their units were not properly "represented" in the film. Once you open up the doors for psykers, yet more people would complain about the liberties taken with their powers (I'm certain they would immediately be compared to Jedi). In all reality, to more fluff, flashy stuff and background that gets worked into a movie, the more likely flaws will be made and more people will complain about it (with flaws or no). I remember seeing some massive rants about Gaunt's Ghosts where people were going as far as complaining about how they handled "Hot Shots".

Just look at the normal fluff for an example, every time it changes bricks are gak and blood vessels explode in brains. Whenever ANY liberty is taken with any book, it is immediately criticized for it; and the books don't need to worry about screen time or potentially poor acting. The concept of being able to please everyone by making a fluff-dependent movie with "all the fixens" of 40k is neigh impossible.

As a tangent: I can't remember if it was in this forum or my previous one where people had come to the conclusion that Ciaphas Cain would need to be played by Robert Downy Jr. if that series ever become a movie.

Horus Heresy works, if played through the eyes of remembrancers. Puts things into perspective.

I think a TV Drama following the Gaunts Ghost Books would work very well. Think The Pacific/Band of Brothers in space

 Zweischneid wrote:

PresidentOfAsia wrote:

No, I can imagine some aspects of 40k looking like that; ever seen the Elysian Drop troops? Their goggles also have built in video feed and all that cool stuff

True. But I would argue that Elysian Drop Troops were made specifically to appeal and draw-in people liking a more Halo/Near-Future Scif-Fi look. Just like DKOK were made to hook people with a fetish for WWI. The "historical wargames" and "military modellers" crowd out there is huge and GW clearly wants to tap into it.

But it's not really what sets the "core" aesthetic of 40K, which is probably more Space-Elf-Wizards on Flying Bikes clashing with Dual-Chain-Saw-Wielding Armour-Hulks before a backdrop of skull-encrusted gothic ruins and roaring Titans stalking over armies stretching from horizon to horizon in the far background.

Even before that, there was the Harakoni warhawks, the Van Saars House in Necromunda and various aspects of the Space Marines. There is nothing gothic about the Rhino, Land Raider, land speeder etc( I can easily imagine them being in somthing like Halo or Star Wars). Remember that in universe, the kind of conflicts you mentioned are extremely rare as 99% of all battles are Imperial Guard vs Planetary rebels.

Also if GW wanted to tap into the market that the Elysian drop troops were meant to appeal to, they would have made them into plastic b/c there is a much bigger market for modern warfare/sci fi warfare genre then gothic sci fi(look how succesful Halo and Star Trek is)

Film ? Bad idea. HBO series about Gaunt and his ghosts ? About Eisenhorn ? That could be an idea....

One book I tought would be great for a 40k movie was 15 hours.

Story of a farmer who gets drafted from his agri world, and quite litteraly fethed into the grimdark universe.
A lot of people don't know what 40k is, and I think that a movie adaptation of this kind of story would be a perfect introduction to the grimdark universe.

Just like the poor lad from the agriworld, the audience would follow his brutal discovery of the 40k universe.

srry for the gazilion typos, i'm as high as feth

I can see the movie going the way of Buffy the Vampire slayer or Stargate: mediocre movie that is not the worse but is no masterpiece followed by an awesome tv series

Hunter/Prey is probably the closest thing to a 40k movie I've seen... excluding the obvious (Ultramarine, Starship Troopers, Event Horizon ect).


Tau


Ork

I agree with all the people saying IG would make the best base for a 40k movie, with maybe a handful of Space Marines. I think an adventure type story with awesome combat scenes would make it a decent movie, I think with the right script and the right director, a profitable 40k movie wouldn't even be difficult...

On a pool a long tiem ago on Dakka most people wanted to see Armageddon War movie, and in my opinion it woudl be perfect. We have everything: Lot's of Orks, lot's of IG, Adeptus Sororitas and Adeptus Astartes. We have Yarrick, Thraka, Dante, Tu'Shan and many other cool characters...

As for series...the most successful ones would be either Gaunt's Ghosts or Horus Heresy.

But of course, as some people here said, for that kind of movie we would need millions of dollars. Until the day when GW finally decided to give millions for that kind of series ( or when decide to gave licence to some company that could make one decent 40k movie, like Paramount or WB's ) we will have to satisfy with Ultramarines, Lord Inquisitor and Exterminatus ( the guys who are doing Exterminatus said that the movie will cost them like 30.000 Euro's ).

Agreed, It would be nice if a regiment of Imperial guard suffered heavy losses on a planet and it's hiveworld. Since they needed to replenish they give a perspective of a humble Imperial man and his small family being conscripted into service for the god emperor, It isn't long that the hive city doing this recruiting riots against the planetary governor and perhaps with corruption within the guard or the governor himself a genestealer cultist emerges gaining the attention of death watch marines who prepare to hold off against a tyranid invasion ready to pounce.

It would make a pretty decent plot and you could add in maybe a family the conscript has and he shows combat potential maybe once the intial strike hits his group is wiped out and he regroups with a unit of veterans on a mission to assist the Deathwatch marines who are ungoing a massive evacuation policy. The main character's daughter or wife is on an evac ship when in the end he stares at them leaving knowing his unit and the marines will be staying until the last citizens evacuate... and proving far too late to fight off the swarm.

I could see the scene in my mind; Our hero Guardsman watches the ship lifting off worried as a tendril of the swarm threatens the ship with his family the sound of gunfire and screams in the background of a evac alarming hiveworld falling apart. In silence he stares hoping against hope that they will be saved... and int he last glimmer of his planet's sun before it turns night he sees the glorious shine of an Imperial Cruiser blast down the tendril heading for them. Suddenly hearing his name being shouted by his comrades he turns to see the hopeless nature of their startegic position, men being eaten alive by rippers, women cowering in corners as they are cut off from the evac route.


It one last look to make sure they are okay he stares to a group of cowering survivors about to be killed by a genestealer as he levels his long-las at it's head " A Guardsmen's life is to die and die well; At last the Emperor showed me his love..." *pulls the trigger killing the creature as he shouts inaudibly through the slow motion scene for them to get to the sky-pad "And as a servant of the emperor i now see what my duty is..." *squeezing off more shots hopelessly trying to get that family towards the helipad as he takes two parasitic shots to the chest dribbling blood down his mouth. With an Angry growl he drops his Long-las and picks up a las-carbine letting loose a few wild shots of cover before kneeling witnessing even a mighty space marine going down to a Tryanid warrior's talons as it throws him away staring toward the hero hissing. with one last look toward the xeno he charges valiantly along parrelle with the family fleeing to the pad jumping ontop of the beast which instantly plunges it's blades into him buying the family the moment the needed to make it to the last ship as the last thoughts in our heroes mind as he watches the whole area become overrun is "The Emperor Protects... and So shall I"

With a final little bad ass moment the hero pits a metal pin in the face of the Tyranid warrior and lifts a krak grenade with a victorious shout and thunderous boom causing the scaffolding to collapse in that sector with a final slow panning to the heroes still standing their ground on the other choke points as the narrator takes over with the infamous quote of warhammer 40,000 "In the grim darkness of the 41st mil, there is only war..."

Making 40k a movie is where the mistake is. You need to make it into a series like Board Walk Empire, Game of Thrones, Walking dead, Band of Brothers etc. for the following reasons:
Cheaper to start off with and can gradually pump more money into it as it gains popularity.
Can actually flesh out the fluff because you are not limited to a movie. I mean look at some of those series like Dexter which is up to season 7 and still going strong.

 Zande4 wrote:
Making 40k a movie is where the mistake is. You need to make it into a series like Board Walk Empire, Game of Thrones, Walking dead, Band of Brothers etc. for the following reasons:
Cheaper to start off with and can gradually pump more money into it as it gains popularity.
Can actually flesh out the fluff because you are not limited to a movie. I mean look at some of those series like Dexter which is up to season 7 and still going strong.

I agree. A series, or even miniseries would be great for 40k. It would allow a lot more time for characters and backstories to develop, and as Zande said, allow for it to be improved and have a bigger budget as it gained popularity. I think a mixture of live-action with obvious small bits of CGI would be good, and as for what race to portray, I think Imperial Guard seems the best bet, as it is the most comparable and similar to real life military organizations. However, I think IG could be considered cheesy and too predictable, maybe space marines would be a better option. Making a show on the perspectives of numerous characters could also work, maybe a Guardsman and a Marine, who eventually meet in a battle.

 Tyriion wrote:

 Zande4 wrote:
Making 40k a movie is where the mistake is. You need to make it into a series like Board Walk Empire, Game of Thrones, Walking dead, Band of Brothers etc. for the following reasons:
Cheaper to start off with and can gradually pump more money into it as it gains popularity.
Can actually flesh out the fluff because you are not limited to a movie. I mean look at some of those series like Dexter which is up to season 7 and still going strong.

I agree. A series, or even miniseries would be great for 40k. It would allow a lot more time for characters and backstories to develop, and as Zande said, allow for it to be improved and have a bigger budget as it gained popularity. I think a mixture of live-action with obvious small bits of CGI would be good, and as for what race to portray, I think Imperial Guard seems the best bet, as it is the most comparable and similar to real life military organizations. However, I think IG could be considered cheesy and too predictable, maybe space marines would be a better option. Making a show on the perspectives of numerous characters could also work, maybe a Guardsman and a Marine, who eventually meet in a battle.

I third the motion. More examples include Red vs Blue, 10 seasons, (go watch it if you don't know what it is). Doctor Who, infinite seasons.
I think a good place to start would be either the one mentioned by Big Mek Wurrzog or another IG one like Gaunt's Ghosts or Caiphias Cain or something else.
The problem with the SM is that they are too different from humans in the way they think and feel. A SM has literally no emotions and thinks about either accomplishing the mission no matter what the cost (1 makes it out of 10k) or dying. An audience can't connect with it, it needs to be fleshed out, and therefore the IG versus humans or nearly human thinking aliens (some Tau, younger Eldar). This is probably the base for a 30-45 minute, 8-12 episodes mini-series that could evolve into something completely huge and on major media broadcasters.

I have written and began production on a short 40k film centering on a Imperial guard squad guarding a supply outpost and discovering a chaos cult. It follows the arrival of a inquisitor and their new mission through a half hour short. Abviously its small scale with only about a hundred on screen at a time. Production began about a month ago, with a completed script, were working on storyboards and concept art before beginning a 3 month crowd funding mission for around $12000 to film and edit next summer.

Shame the company Mainframe (Reboot, Beast Wars, War Planets) ain't around anymore. They were known for taking obscure toy franchises and making them into epic series.

Make a movie about the Second War of Armageddon. Yarrick gives you your "good" character for people to follow, and could be played by Eastwood. Both grouchy old guys.

If it does well, it means a sequel could be made for the Third war.

Apart from the Lord Inquisitor and the short by SweetLou. Are there any other fan-films out there that are any good. I know this guy makes short 40k videos, they're all right http://www.youtube.com/user/robfry2008?feature=watch.