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Necron are a good faction to start with. They are mechanical aliens hell-bent on eradicating all life, kinda like Terminators. The Necrons are somewhat simple to create through CGI, does not overlap with many other popular Sci-fi/fantasy opponents like the Orks with Orcs or Tyranids with Zerg or Tau with Trade Federation from Star Wars, and can be pretty cool in battle.

I made a post on Quora here. You can check it out.

https://www.quora.com/How-successful-would-a-big-budget-movie-based-on-the-Warhammer-40K-universe-be/answer/Hoang-le-Nguyen-1?__filter__=&__nsrc__=2&__snid3__=2942300445

Not really sold on that idea. From an human centric viewpoint the Necrons and their backstory are peripheral. They're important in the Eldar backstory but I think we can safely assume that within the boundaries of reality in which a 40k movie could exist, the storyline will be focused on The Imperium of Man vs Chaos. That's the central storyline. Chaos is the primary antagonist. I don't see how it can be anything else. If we're throwing ideas against the wall in the realm of hypotheticals, knock yourself out.

I think the Lord Inquisitor fan film was going the right way about it.

I'm not sure how well 40k would do in the mainstream cinema, it's a bit too niche. I don't think you could really inject too much humour into it to make it accessible if it were about Space Marines. You would need the human element. So something about guard. Perhaps the Last Chancers. I think they could probably do straight to digital/dvd releases well. Leave out the big names and concentrate on making it look good/having a good story. That's where Ultramarine failed imo.

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:

Yeah but they can make hundreds of millions on films without A-list celebrities, adding A-list celebrities isn't going to always up the price of a film,

Wow...

 Hollow wrote:

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:

Yeah but they can make hundreds of millions on films without A-list celebrities, adding A-list celebrities isn't going to always up the price of a film,

Wow...

Well if they spend 10 million on the main budget and then get a few A-listers, its hardly going to cost 250 millions now is it. Jesus...

How bout you quote the whole comment, add some context:

"Yeah but they can make hundreds of millions on films without A-list celebrities, adding A-list celebrities isn't going to always up the price of a film, lots of times production companies will spend small budgets the film, spend more on an A-list cast and get results. Or if they chose not to get an A-list cast they can spend the majority on the actual production. or they can go all out with an A-list cast and and A-list production. Having an A-list cast doesn't mean it has to be a massive budget. Saying "that's 100 mil without an A-list budget" doesn't mean that your average budget without an A-list cast is always 100 mil."

You are just wrong, having an A-list cast doesn't mean its going to have a massive budget and quoting me out of context isn't going to make you right. Its a post you already read and replied to many comments back in the thread lol, you had to go back to find something lol

You're very petty lol.

The point about A list stars that was made (Which is still flying completely over your head, its actually amazing to watch) Is that a film like Pacific Rim cost the best part of $200 Million without any A list celebs sucking up cash, more of the budget is seen on the screen and you get a clearer idea of what that kind of money gets you in terms of production design, SFX, scope and scale etc...

Tell me about the films that makes 'hundreds of millions' without significant names attached to the roles? Although you are right that not all film with A list talent needs to cost a fortune (Look at the likes of the Ocean films to see that) However, their deals include significant chunks of the films gross as a backdoor payment.

Look at the likes of Terminator 3. 30 Million to Arnie plus 20% of the films takings. This is an example of a 'Star vehicle' which demands huge paychecks.

I'd suggest you take a couple of minutes to look into how films are produced and costed, how budgets are formulated and why after doing this, you would understand that a 40k film at the very very least would cost $100 million for a small scale, intimate story.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Hollow wrote:
The point about A list stars that was made (Which is still flying completely over your head, its actually amazing to watch) Is that a film like Pacific Rim cost the best part of $200 Million without any A list celebs sucking up cash, more of the budget is seen on the screen and you get a clearer idea of what that kind of money gets you in terms of production design, SFX, scope and scale etc...

Tell me about the films that makes 'hundreds of millions' without significant names attached to the roles? Although you are right that not all film with A list talent needs to cost a fortune (Look at the likes of the Ocean films to see that) However, their deals include significant chunks of the films gross as a backdoor payment.

Look at the likes of Terminator 3. 30 Million to Arnie plus 20% of the films takings. This is an example of a 'Star vehicle' which demands huge paychecks.

I'd suggest you take a couple of minutes to look into how films are produced and costed, how budgets are formulated and why after doing this, you would understand that a 40k film at the very very least would cost $100 million for a small scale, intimate story.

No we were talking about how much films would cost, saying this film reached 100 millions and without A-listers. I said whether there are A-listers or not is Irrelevant because you can have low budget films with A-listers and high budget films with A-listers. The film being 100 million without A-listers is irrelevant, you could have a 200 million dollar film without A-listers, a 20 million dollar film with A-listers.

"Tell me about the films that makes 'hundreds of millions' without significant names attached to the roles?" are you kidding, pacific rim, but that is regardless even if there were no 100 million films without A-listers, what does that have to do with anything, it would just prove the point I was making lol

"I'd suggest you take a couple of minutes to look into how films are produced and costed, how budgets are formulated and why after doing this, you would understand that a 40k film at the very very least would cost $100 million for a small scale, intimate story." I'd suggest you learn how to use logic.

Ok this is over... you are so utterly unaware of the points that are being made and how you have been, and are, so completely off base regarding this topic that it would be more fruitful talking to a stool, at least then it would have a leg to stand on.

Just wow... I'm constantly surprised at how ignorant and stupid people can be. However, when it is coupled with such confidence it's just depressing.

The point is, that you cannot make a big budget warhammer 40k movie for a mere 20 million, as you claimed earlier. Thats just impossiable.

 Hollow wrote:
Ok this is over... you are so utterly unaware of the points that are being made and how you have been, and are, so completely off base regarding this topic that it would be more fruitful talking to a stool, at least then it would have a leg to stand on.

Just wow... I'm constantly surprised at how ignorant and stupid people can be. However, when it is coupled with such confidence it's just depressing.

He was saying 100 millon is a lot and that's what most things cost, also saying and that is without A-list actors, which means with A-list actors its going to cost more. Yeah I get that, But its still irrelevant, as A-list actors are not always going a) add a lot to the budget and b) or dictate the budget at all. You can have 10 million (overall) budget like Snatch that had Brad Pitt in it, or 50 million for the matrix. So again having A-list actors is irrelevant. Sure they can add to the films budget, but adding anything to the film is going to increase the budget. I used google this time lol

 Hollow wrote:
Ok this is over... you are so utterly unaware of the points that are being made and how you have been, and are, so completely off base regarding this topic that it would be more fruitful talking to a stool, at least then it would have a leg to stand on.

Just wow... I'm constantly surprised at how ignorant and stupid people can be. However, when it is coupled with such confidence it's just depressing.

That's par for the course with lovely Dev.

So I actually contribute to the thread here's my thoughts on a 40k film. It's not a great idea. The only faction that seems likely to have people outside the fans of Warhammer relate to it is Imperial Guard. Which is just a standard sci fi themed soldier movie and that seems....dull. There's no time to add the depth for things like the Eldar Fall unless you make it a series of films from the get go. Which is a ridiculous gamble financially.

pm713 wrote:

 Hollow wrote:
Ok this is over... you are so utterly unaware of the points that are being made and how you have been, and are, so completely off base regarding this topic that it would be more fruitful talking to a stool, at least then it would have a leg to stand on.

Just wow... I'm constantly surprised at how ignorant and stupid people can be. However, when it is coupled with such confidence it's just depressing.

That's par for the course with lovely Dev.

So I actually contribute to the thread here's my thoughts on a 40k film. It's not a great idea. The only faction that seems likely to have people outside the fans of Warhammer relate to it is Imperial Guard. Which is just a standard sci fi themed soldier movie and that seems....dull. There's no time to add the depth for things like the Eldar Fall unless you make it a series of films from the get go. Which is a ridiculous gamble financially.

Par for the course lol like when you were debating with me about the Emperors trip to Molech, here's your qoute:

"Seems really stupid to wait centuries to fortify something important especially in a time when anyone could wander in." yeah if you actually read the book, you'd 'know' that the Emperor went to Molech in the Dark Age of technology, 20 millenniums ago." lol At least I have the common sense to read the book I'am arguing about.

The big draw of 40k is the setting, not any specific story, IMO. If you were going to make a 40k film the best thing to do would probably be to use the setting to make something like an Inquisitor movie. Something relatable with a strong story and character-driven, that just happens to utilise the 40k setting. Trying to go big-budget immediately with a full-blown Horus Heresy trilogy would be a recipe for disaster.

The reality is that the 40k universe is fairly well known but doesn't have anywhere near the popularity required for a studio to try to make a big budget film out of it. Warcraft was a much more popular property and the big-budget Warcraft film was pretty much a disaster, mainly because having a good setting doesn't automatically lead to telling a good story. One problem films like this tend to have is they try to squeeze in as many details as possible to please the fans while ignoring the fact they need to make a compelling story.

$20 million would get you nothing in today's market. As a comparison, Altered Carbon cost about $150 million, which is $15 million per episode, and that's without any big name stars attached. So $20 million gets you about an hour of high-quality sci-fi and that doesn't take into account economies of scale when making a series or the marketing costs. You can't make high quality films or TV series without a big budget and I don't see anyone taking that risk on 40k.

Slipspace wrote:
The big draw of 40k is the setting, not any specific story, IMO. If you were going to make a 40k film the best thing to do would probably be to use the setting to make something like an Inquisitor movie. Something relatable with a strong story and character-driven, that just happens to utilise the 40k setting. Trying to go big-budget immediately with a full-blown Horus Heresy trilogy would be a recipe for disaster.

The reality is that the 40k universe is fairly well known but doesn't have anywhere near the popularity required for a studio to try to make a big budget film out of it. Warcraft was a much more popular property and the big-budget Warcraft film was pretty much a disaster, mainly because having a good setting doesn't automatically lead to telling a good story. One problem films like this tend to have is they try to squeeze in as many details as possible to please the fans while ignoring the fact they need to make a compelling story.

$20 million would get you nothing in today's market. As a comparison, Altered Carbon cost about $150 million, which is $15 million per episode, and that's without any big name stars attached. So $20 million gets you about an hour of high-quality sci-fi and that doesn't take into account economies of scale when making a series or the marketing costs. You can't make high quality films or TV series without a big budget and I don't see anyone taking that risk on 40k.

If I could give that guy making the fanmade Inquisitor film 20 million, firstly I would if I was like a billionaire and secondly I think he could make an amazing film from what I've seen. He just needs to get a better script and better voice actors.

Slipspace wrote:
The big draw of 40k is the setting, not any specific story, IMO. If you were going to make a 40k film the best thing to do would probably be to use the setting to make something like an Inquisitor movie. Something relatable with a strong story and character-driven, that just happens to utilise the 40k setting. Trying to go big-budget immediately with a full-blown Horus Heresy trilogy would be a recipe for disaster.

Yep, this. Normal human main characters, and Inquisitor or a Rogue Trader would be good. This would be relatable to larger audiences, while not boring me death by being an two hours of special effects filled marine bolter porn and most importantly it would be something that could actually be done with a moderate budget.

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 Hollow wrote:
Ok this is over... you are so utterly unaware of the points that are being made and how you have been, and are, so completely off base regarding this topic that it would be more fruitful talking to a stool, at least then it would have a leg to stand on.

Just wow... I'm constantly surprised at how ignorant and stupid people can be. However, when it is coupled with such confidence it's just depressing.

That's par for the course with lovely Dev.

So I actually contribute to the thread here's my thoughts on a 40k film. It's not a great idea. The only faction that seems likely to have people outside the fans of Warhammer relate to it is Imperial Guard. Which is just a standard sci fi themed soldier movie and that seems....dull. There's no time to add the depth for things like the Eldar Fall unless you make it a series of films from the get go. Which is a ridiculous gamble financially.

Par for the course lol like when you were debating with me about the Emperors trip to Molech, here's your qoute:

"Seems really stupid to wait centuries to fortify something important especially in a time when anyone could wander in." yeah if you actually read the book, you'd 'know' that the Emperor went to Molech in the Dark Age of technology, 20 millenniums ago." lol At least I have the common sense to read the book I'am arguing about.

Okay. I was responding to what you said about the book there. Anything to say about the subject at hand?

Banville wrote:
From a writer's perspective, you want the story to revolve around someone the reader/audience connects with. Space Marine novels sell cos the audience is already invested through the game, to reach a wider audience you'd need the protagonist to be human. You can include as many Space Marines and Xenos as you want after that.

The reason Game of Thrones the TV show is so successful is because the intrigue, backstabbing and human frailty are what drive the plot. It's not about the dragons.

There was a line in one of the BRBs or Marine codexes which said that to most Imperial citizens the Space Marines are just legends and, for most citizens, seeing one means your end is pretty much nigh because if Marines are involved, something heavy is going down. Something to which the words 'extreme prejudice' are unfortunately attached.

TLDR: The movie needs to have a human and human concerns and passions at its heart. Otherwise, it's just the opening of Saving Private Ryan for two hours.

Absolutely agree.

The plot of "Legion" would make an incredible film imo.

Why not just a Ciaphus Cain adaptation?
Its mostly guardsman orientated, its light for a series set in Wh40k, and the main character has some charisma.

I would want to see a Warhammer 30k movie adaptation of the Horus Heresy novels, to an extent, similar to Lord of The Rings or Harry Potter, as in a series of novels to a series of movies. Of course a lot of it would have to be condensed or glossed over as no one is going to watch a movie series with 25ish movies in it, unless your Marvel. Although if it had to be 40k I'd have to go with an Imperial Guard movie or Inquisition movie, as there was already a Space Marines movie, and a gritty Saving Private Ryan-esque IG movie would be neat, or a horror-investigation-survival Inquisition movie would be pretty riveting, actually thinking about it I now want a movie of an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus and his retinue of Grey Knights (too be slaughtered of course) facing of with a horde of Daemons, or perhaps being hunted by a Greater Daemon through a fallen hive city or Space Hulk... Someone get on that...

Of course the problem as I see it with a "Blockbuster" movie is that they're probably going to get something wrong and its going upset a lot of us.

Ok ok, hear me out.
We should make the movie to be about Ultramarines!
In order to make it work, we'll have a squad of Ultramarine, who are out on their first mission. But they are tactical marines, not scout, nobody want to see scouts.
It should be on a famous planet, like, say, Mithron.
Let's say that the team is responding to some distress signal, it worked well in Alien.
The distress signal should come from a shrine guarded by Imperial Fists, so we can show how the Ultramarines are the very best of the space marines and how a dozen of them wins where a hundred lesser space marines fall.
We would set up the enemy to be black legion, plenty of CSM mooks to show being kill.
Let's have the Ultramarine standard be a Chaos detector that starts burning when Chaos corruption is nearby too!

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:
You can have 10 million (overall) budget like Snatch that had Brad Pitt in it, or 50 million for the matrix.l

Jesus.... Those movies are 20 years old. Brad Pitt called Guy Ritchie to work with him after liking Lock Stock and took a percentage of takings rather than money up front. The Matrix had a production budget of over $60 million dollars. (The fact that you don't know that the production budget only accounts for about 50/60% of the total budget to bring a film to market shows how ignorant you are regarding this topic) and we will forget the fact that AGAIN Reeves took 10% of the films takings at the box office.

Why can't you just hold up your hands and say "Yeah, $20 million was way off base, I was wrong about that." and move on? You were wrong, are wrong and continuing to be so does nothing other than make you seem like an arrogant fool.

 Hollow wrote:

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:

Yeah but they can make hundreds of millions on films without A-list celebrities, adding A-list celebrities isn't going to always up the price of a film,

Wow...

It's not often I agree with Hollow here, but yes- You need some known names. Not only for pulling power, but also if you cast a bunch of no-names they better have acted in something before, or you're paying a load of fines just to the SAG just to take a chance on someone.

Doing a film which was in the 40k universe, but not directly related would entertain me. It'd have to be a human centric story (not based around a space marine) though for us to get into it. Then once it's set down other spin offs could be done.

Even doing a pre fall human experience... maybe the war with the iron men. Or just a crime or supernatural film in space, but happens to be in the universe. A bit of hyperbole... Event Horizon could be something akin to that... that could be the first experience of humans touching the warp.
I'm working through the Horus Heresy novels (I've just finished Fulgrim, but done HH1-3 and Flight of the Eisenstein) and I like the idea the warp is unknown, but those who do know about it either treat the entities in it like gods, and other people treat them just like creatures and from a rational point of view.
On the HH I'm pretty bored of the gallant, straight up and down space marine captain who doesn't follow his legion into damnation with his human sidekick, and the captain is nearly the best warrior, but still beats the best warrior with sheer willpower and grit. It feels a little tired now, especially as I don't really fear for the space marines life as they're so sturdy (except for when they shoot other space marines). That's why it should be a human. Space marines also have to wear helmets a lot of the time, so I'd forget who was who and mostly didn't care which one was which... like in the Ultramarines movie.


A genestealer infestation would be cool too. It would start like a workers association, and you would probably support them as the industrial complex employing/enslaving the protagonist would be horrid. Then you'd begin to realise that something is up and then it'd introduce other factions, like kill teams, inquisitors (who you'd hate too as they burn everything), imperial guards/PDFs, arbites, underground psykers. Eventually they think they have exterminated (or avoided) the horde, but then the rest of the hive fleet turn up for round two.

Yeah. Personally I'd go genestealer infestation as a series. Let the audience side with the workers then introduce creepy elements a la Stranger Things. You'd need humour in it, too. Ratchet up the tension and get progressively darker. Our protagonist sacrifices everything to send out a distress signal. Two episodes pass as they hide from the increasingly zealous and deranged cultists. Then the Marines can come in at the end. Audience are happy to see them until they start purging the place. Fate of our hero is left ambiguous. Fade to black. I suppose GW would push for Ultramarines but the Carcharodons would be perfect for this final act.

My biggest issue with a film (or series for that matter) is not so much what it will be about, but who the target audience will be.

Lets be honest, a good whack of 40K's fan base are a younger age range. So do you make a movie an 18+ with all the grimderp themes and ultra-violence and cut out a good portion of your audience, or do you restrain it somewhat and aim for a lower age bracket so you can get more money into the theatre?

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
My biggest issue with a film (or series for that matter) is not so much what it will be about, but who the target audience will be.

Lets be honest, a good whack of 40K's fan base are a younger age range. So do you make a movie an 18+ with all the grimderp themes and ultra-violence and cut out a good portion of your audience, or do you restrain it somewhat and aim for a lower age bracket so you can get more money into the theatre?

I'd argue that most of GWs customers are over 18. At least the ones that matter. Educated professionals with spending power. GW tried pandering to impulse-buying 15 year olds, swinging from Mammy's purse strings and it didn't work. I'd be aiming at a 15s Certificate, or whatever the US equivalent is.

Banville wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
My biggest issue with a film (or series for that matter) is not so much what it will be about, but who the target audience will be.

Lets be honest, a good whack of 40K's fan base are a younger age range. So do you make a movie an 18+ with all the grimderp themes and ultra-violence and cut out a good portion of your audience, or do you restrain it somewhat and aim for a lower age bracket so you can get more money into the theatre?

I'd argue that most of GWs customers are over 18. At least the ones that matter. Educated professionals with spending power. GW tried pandering to impulse-buying 15 year olds, swinging from Mammy's purse strings and it didn't work. I'd be aiming at a 15s Certificate, or whatever the US equivalent is.

If a 40k film were to happen it would most likely be rated, at most, 12. The recent trend in films has been to go for the lowest age certificate possible in order to be available to as wide an audience as possible, You just need to look at the fact the last Terminator film was a 12, as was the last Die Hard film. In a generally risk-averse market I think it'd be highly unlikely the studio would aim for a 15 or higher certificate.

Slipspace wrote:

Banville wrote:

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
My biggest issue with a film (or series for that matter) is not so much what it will be about, but who the target audience will be.

Lets be honest, a good whack of 40K's fan base are a younger age range. So do you make a movie an 18+ with all the grimderp themes and ultra-violence and cut out a good portion of your audience, or do you restrain it somewhat and aim for a lower age bracket so you can get more money into the theatre?

I'd argue that most of GWs customers are over 18. At least the ones that matter. Educated professionals with spending power. GW tried pandering to impulse-buying 15 year olds, swinging from Mammy's purse strings and it didn't work. I'd be aiming at a 15s Certificate, or whatever the US equivalent is.

If a 40k film were to happen it would most likely be rated, at most, 12. The recent trend in films has been to go for the lowest age certificate possible in order to be available to as wide an audience as possible, You just need to look at the fact the last Terminator film was a 12, as was the last Die Hard film. In a generally risk-averse market I think it'd be highly unlikely the studio would aim for a 15 or higher certificate.

Which is pretty much my thinking. You'd have to...sanitise the movie to get the biggest audience in. Especially when trying to pitch a risky movie like 40K when you're trying to get funding. Or you need to get lucky enough to get a movie exec who was into the setting in the first place. Like LotR had when it was changed from two to three movies.

You're probably right. I'd still be pushing for that if I was writing it. The director and producers can chop away at it after it's done but I'd try and make it as spiky as possible. Of course cursing and swear words won't be in it, cos of the different dialect. Sexual violence, I don't see any need for. Nor sexual references outside of a romantic story arc. Threat, danger and violence are what you're going to be running past the censors. I don't see and reason to make it any worse or any more sanitised than Band of Brothers or the Pacific. I would try and make it as "real" as possible, so very little cartoon, Avengers stuff. And let's face it, if it's going to be realistic, there's no real way around depicting weaponised chainsaws or mass reactive rounds or genestealers in a way that isn't scary.

 Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
My biggest issue with a film (or series for that matter) is not so much what it will be about, but who the target audience will be.

Lets be honest, a good whack of 40K's fan base are a younger age range. So do you make a movie an 18+ with all the grimderp themes and ultra-violence and cut out a good portion of your audience, or do you restrain it somewhat and aim for a lower age bracket so you can get more money into the theatre?

You say this, but there's plenty of history where 18+ films have had toys and other things pushed towards children (Terminator, RoboCop, Aliens). Also, the film could be 18+ at the cinema, but where is all the money made? Is it at the box office, or is it the associated merchandise, DVD and other sales? Kids will watch the movie on streaming, DVD or TV, so don't worry about that and then can be drip fed toys and models and video games.

I can understand that GW will want to go for the widest demographic possible, but that wouldn't be the best move. That said, even if the movie was rubbish all the current fans would go see it, even if they did complain about it afterwards, so they've got some guaranteed income, but a crap movie will ruin future movies. Similiar to how I'm very sceptical about 40K video games or even Star Trek video games (some are ok, but there are loads of rubbish ones) people would become sceptical of future movies and it might take decades to recover.

But again, all of that said, GW has income and their shares are higher than ever without doing a movie, so why worry? The gamers complain about all the profiteering and commercialism, but still buy all the models and play the games, so a movie might not be any different.

For some reason chopping someone's head off and shooting them garners a low age rating (unless there is blood, or a puppy gets kicked) than two loving people being naked, so it probably would end up a 12 or 15, unless of course there were dark eldar or slaanesh involved. A sexually violent film would not be very popular and could alienate more than just an age range, but larger swathes of the population and get you banned in other countries... which could lead to other issues with your models etc.