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Okay so, I think everyone who's seen Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie can agree that it was a complete let down, am I right?

I've read a few 40k novels and my god, there is SO much potential in the 40k universe for some absolutely incredible films or short films. 40k deserves a better attempt than the previously mentioned film, but where would anyone even start in so vast a sci-fi universe? They would likely have to make a film adaption of a book so that the task isn’t too challenging.

This leads me onto my main question - what do people feel would be a good book or series of books to use for a 40k film?

Also the voice acting in Ultramarines, be it Terrance Stamp or no, was very poorly chosen. Space Marines should all look and sound like lethal warriors who have been born and bred for the purpose of battle, seeing as this is essentially what they are. So who would be a suitable actor to portray a Space Marine? They'd need to look the part, though CGI could probably help a bit with that

If I was going to go for one book in particular I think I would go for Fear to Tread as I think it gives quite large amount of detailed back story as well as having characters that I generally cared/intrigued by.

I would personally like to see some sort of Game of Thrones series rather than a film. There is a definite shift in big name actors and budgets going to TV shows as they are more consistent with profits.

The independent trailers for Inquisitor looks amazing and if it ever gets released I would be one very happy as it ticks all the boxes in my book.

For a company that spends so much paper and time talking about "cinematic" experiences, GW sure hasn't come through in actually making something cinema worthy....

I would rather not have a movie/TV show than risk it being horrible. Movies never live up to books, and TV shows may get cancelled or actors change before it gets far enough in. I just look at what has happened to Star Wars and hope Warhammer never goes that way.

It's very easy to have a 40k movie. Necromunda. Massively built world that wouldn't piss off fans because it's only one world. Inquisitors, Chaos cults, maybe a cameo by some Chaos Space Marines and there ya go. But a movie about loyalist Marines would tank and tank hard. No heart in those Boys in Blue, even if they are the poster children.

Tv series with each season being about a specific faction, that way fanboys for each race get plenty of attention

I think that Dan Abnett said that before he could write about Space Marines, he felt he should write about humans first. This approach might help for any tv show or movie to ease the viewer into the universe. Then the introduction of Space Marines would seem a bit special and it would give a better understanding of the threat presented by other factions.

I would totally love to see a movie/show about guardsmen. Have them defending a world or do something like band of brothers but IG it up. From recruitment to whenever. Could have way more leeway with it, make a custom regiment for it, and can honestly build up to when space Marines are introduced. People would better relate to it since its be humans in space talking about the mythical angels of death.

Armageddon, Cadia or Space Hulk would be a good place to start if you ask me. Good settings with plenty of stuff. Haven't read enough of the books to recommend one.

An online series like Forward unto Dawn would be cool.

Necromunda makes a lot of sense. I, too, think that whether it is a movie or a series it should at least begin with humans rather than moving straight on to the big guys. The main reason would be to let the viewer wade in to the 40k atmosphere by watching on screen characters that he can relate to. Then show him the freaky, scary and depressing stuff so that you can appropriately introduce the Marines as humanity's best and last chance to stand its ground in face of aliens and daemons.

I have thought about this a few times, and if GW wants to appeal to a lot more people, they need to break a few barriers down.

First one is to NOT MAKE THE FIRST MOVIE INVOLVE CHAOS IN ANY WAY.

People are turned off by Chaos because GW does a very poor job introducing them as a concept, it's just plain cheesy. Now if you did it in a way that the books did, slowly revealing a piece at a time you generate intrigue then.

The first movie should basically look like a standard action move, Tyranids invade earth, human military struggling to combat them.

Young group of civilians for a militia to fight back.

Mysterious signal from ships found within our galaxy are sending us a message if we are requesting help.

We say yes.

Space marines show up, blam boom pow, nids destroyed, guess what, you need to now join the imperium or die.

Human militia ('Merica) is noticed by marines, and recruited for the honour of attempting to become a space marine! (Consistent character people can relate too, and follow along the process of how these warriors are made, will be a main character in other movies)

Governments say no, attempt to resist, and are systematically dismantled by space marines.

Movie ends with scenes of large machines and space crafts terraforming Planet XYZ B2 (not really earth, haha stupid humans!)


This does a couple things, it gives a very soft intro to people not into 40k, it appeases 40k fans because we desperately need a movie that doesn't suck, it wouldn't be too heavy on the animation department, and it creates a great spot for the story to go anywhere. It could easily flow into the Horus Hersey from the point of view of this human marine who came from "earth".

A movie set around an Inquisition cell would work easiest, as you wouldn't need a stupid huge budget. Let's face it, GW hates to spend money, so there won't be a massive "IG vs X" movie, because of costs. Necromunda might work as a movie (an underhive Boyz in the Hood, perhaps?) but wouldn't give a good view of human civilization as a whole (read those old Necromunda rule books again... the fluff sections barely even mention Him on Terra or the Ecclesiarchy). An Inquisition-themed movie would give a better view of the setting (Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, nobility, xenos horrors, GRIMDARK) and could be small-scaled enough to avoid exploding the budget. A tight, compact horror mystery set in a sealed hab block, as a cell of Inquisition acolytes tries to root out the source of the xenos/heretic threat (Genestealer cult?) could work worth a comparatively modest budget and could much more effectively showcase iconinc aspects of the IoM. If that movie is successful, then the sequel can have a bigger budget and be about Spess Muhreenz shooting things in the face for 90 minutes.

squidhills wrote:
A movie set around an Inquisition cell would work easiest, as you wouldn't need a stupid huge budget. Let's face it, GW hates to spend money, so there won't be a massive "IG vs X" movie, because of costs. Necromunda might work as a movie (an underhive Boyz in the Hood, perhaps?) but wouldn't give a good view of human civilization as a whole (read those old Necromunda rule books again... the fluff sections barely even mention Him on Terra or the Ecclesiarchy). An Inquisition-themed movie would give a better view of the setting (Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, nobility, xenos horrors, GRIMDARK) and could be small-scaled enough to avoid exploding the budget. A tight, compact horror mystery set in a sealed hab block, as a cell of Inquisition acolytes tries to root out the source of the xenos/heretic threat (Genestealer cult?) could work worth a comparatively modest budget and could much more effectively showcase iconinc aspects of the IoM. If that movie is successful, then the sequel can have a bigger budget and be about Spess Muhreenz shooting things in the face for 90 minutes.

Inquisition, all the way. You have a human-centric cast with flaws and character arcs (so people have some hope of relating to it), your story can follow standard action/adventure tropes without just being a boring shoot-em-up (since it's basically a whodunnit in space), and via the Inquisition you have an excuse to touch on literally any and every aspect of 40k you want to include. The Inquisition is really the ultimate expression of Imperial authority, but at the same time you have infighting among Inquisitors.

Basically I'm saying if you want to make a movie, make Eisenhorn.

GW would love anything that would make them sell more models. But in order to have something like that, they need to thread carefully while the script is written.
Everything needs to fit in its place on its own pace and not rushed.

I'd like to fantasise a bit.

The first movie should do the background check from the creation of the emperor and fast forwarding with narration through the ages, the golden age of mankind, the dark age of technology, creation of the primarchs, scattering of the primarchs, reunification and etc. to ullanor worlds crusade where Horus was made Warmaster. Cue primarchs and Empy. A couple of dialogues, end the scene with Horus being hailed by thousands upon thousands of CGI Marines, titans etc. Take it from there to follow the Horus Heresy story, keeping in line with the novels but the focus always staying on whats going around Horus. If successful, start spinoffs into what the other primarchs are doing. Factions displayed; SM, IG, Ork, Eldar, Daemons and some of the races we were introduced to in the HH novels. End the 30k series with the Battle for Terra. Begin new series in 40k, introduce the tau, necrons and nids during this series.

I think any movie that involves Chaos would have to put it forward like the movie Event Horizon (which as a movie fits with 40k fluff as humanity's first interaction with the warp without a Gelar Field). The few images you see of humans exposed whatever it is in this movie are pretty disturbing, wheras GW usually shows them simply as 'bad space marines'

If there ever was to be a live action film, I think it can beplayed safe by using the IImperial Guard perspective. Avoiding CGI and making it a cool action flick. I hate CGI... with a burning hate. ,just thinking about transformers makes me rage. I like full animation films but when they splice it into live action, that's where I have a problem.

What they really need to do is fully bless and fund thelordinquisitor. Make it 90 minutes, put it on Amazon and charge $40 for it. They'd make a ton of money.

I agree with Fear to Tread. That would be an amazing movie.

HH series would work best as a TV series. The story is too long to be made in less than 3-4 films (and they wouldn't make justice to the setting). An episode zero would show the rise from Earth to DaoT, the fall, EoT and then the beginning of the Imperium (to the days of Horus Heresy) in quick motion to explain the most important stuff.

40k could be used for movies (and should come before HH TV series). Inquisition TV series would be ok as well (more or less Dark Heresy RPG). Rogue Trader and Only War-related movies or tv series to show the other sides of humanity in the frontier, all 3 with pints of Marines.
Inquisition series would explore Chaos in a slow pace
Rogue Trader would deal with Xenos
Only War would show the brute slaughter that 40k is

The earlier stuff could be CGI to reduce costs

clively wrote:
What they really need to do is fully bless and fund thelordinquisitor. Make it 90 minutes, put it on Amazon and charge $40 for it. They'd make a ton of money.

Haha, what movies do you watch that cost 40 bucks?

How about a movie based on the game Space Hulk? A nice, standalone story. It's basically aliens, so it would be easy to market to fans of that series.

The Lord Inquisitor. See how it foes first.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
It's very easy to have a 40k movie. Necromunda. Massively built world that wouldn't piss off fans because it's only one world. Inquisitors, Chaos cults, maybe a cameo by some Chaos Space Marines and there ya go. But a movie about loyalist Marines would tank and tank hard. No heart in those Boys in Blue, even if they are the poster children.

 Jeeves wrote:
I think that Dan Abnett said that before he could write about Space Marines, he felt he should write about humans first. This approach might help for any tv show or movie to ease the viewer into the universe. Then the introduction of Space Marines would seem a bit special and it would give a better understanding of the threat presented by other factions.

This would probably work best. I also think a series, a la Borgias, GoT etc, would work best. It allows people to get attached and really get into the incredibly rich universe. Space Marines should only be used extremely sparingly, like a Deathwatch walking ominously towards the characters in the last episode of the first series.

A movie with Stormtroopers would be nice.
It will be like the Expendables...in space.

I always thought that the novel Necropolis would make a good Band of Brothers-esque miniseries.

It'd be dead easy to incorporate Chaos without getting too deep into obscure lore:

I think a 40k movie would always be doomed. Like many other franchises, It needs to be an 18 to really show the darkness and violence of the background, and yet the producers will insist on aiming for PG13, because 13 year old boys are going to be the primary target audience. Whenever will they learn that the best way to appeal to 13 year old boys is to make films R rated?.

They will also insist on sticking the Ultramarines in it as much as possible, forgetting that their name is bad pun on ultramarine blue, and sounds about as serious and grimdark as 'power rangers' to unfamiliar ears. 'Space Wolves' should probably be avoided for similar reasons.

I think the Blood Angels would probably be the best chapter to include in a movie, since their name is darker (yet more original than Dark Angels), and the black rage offers a mechanism to flash back to the most important part of the background: the Horus heresy, and the battle aboard Horus' ship.

Or maybe a totally new chapter (like they did with DoW). If they did manage to do a huge blockbuster, then I think it might be a good time to shed some light on the lost legions (even if it was just a teaser). That would certainly get fans stirred up.

An HBO style movie series following the Tanith First and Only, probably the BEST Black Library set out there IMO. Could have a certain number of Episodes represent one book, ect.

A movie about the Death Korps, ah!

So my thoughts on the matter are as follows. if we're going to speculate about a 40k movie (or other media treatment) really I think it serves us to look at what GW would likely want to try to do with it. a Movie (or TV series) would serve to bring greater brand awareness to the public at large. this means they're going to be doing something to appeal to a mass audiance, not the small number of fans that already exist. So, with that in mind here's my thoughts.


1st: Space Marines would have to be in the movie, in a fairly sizeable role as well, it's great to SAY "ohh well it should be about the Imperial guard!" but space Marines are the poster boys. they're the element of 40k that has the most visual reckongization. show someone a movie poster with IG fighting tyranids and they're going to assume "ohh look a Starships troopers clone" show someone a movie poster featuring space marines and people immediatly think "ohh look warhammer"

that said I don't disagree that a 40k movie would be best not to make space Marines the ONLY stars. and inqusition focused movie might work, the inqusitor does a buncha work, then comes time for the big finale battle... and you bring in the space marines.


Secondly... the Horus Heresy is UTTERLY IRRELEVENT. this needs to be a simple introduction to the setting. a data dump isn't needed. referances to a grand heresy at the dawn of the Imperium could certinly be made, but there's no reason to spend an hour on explaining it. (sometimes simply referancing historical events and not explaining them makes the movie feel more alive. case in point, the referances episode 4 of SW made to the clone wars. and if people really do wanna know the details, GW can just smile and suggest some additional reading material )


Third, a TV series would be intreasting, but honestly given the costs involved in a live action it'd proably be a cartoon. for some reason I suspect it'd be a cartoon aimed at a younger audiance, and be pretty sanitized. it'd proably basicly end up as "GI JOE WITH SPACE MARINES!"

I think they could quite easily pull of an Eisenhorn series. It's more human based with the occasional Space Marine and Daemonhosts can be done Event Horizon style.

You have your handsome male lead, your love interest and plenty of action. What more could you want in series, oh a storyline, Eisenhorn has that, and is one of the best ever produced.