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I was just reading through the thread regarding horror in 40k fluff, and it struck me that this might be the only way for a good 40k movie to be made. I mean, if you think about it, it would be incredibly difficult to portray something like Space Marines battline tyranids, or the Horus Heresy, or any number of other 40k scenarios that we really want movies to be made for, but what about a Shard of the Deciever being unleashed on an Imperial Civilized World (similar to Earth), and detailing all of the gruesome details of what would happen there? We wouldn't have to worry about too much crappy CGI tyranids or Titans, wouldn't have to worry about how they'd handle Space Marines or Eldar, it would just be a city that slowly goes mad as its citizens hallucinate and commit horrible atrocities, all without realizing what's going on, and they don't know what they've done until it's already too late. A mother thinks that her little children are actually horrible monsters coming to murder her, and butchers them, only to find that she has murdered the people she loves the most in the world. A person is walking through a field of grass, only to discover that he/she is actually walking barefoot over shattered glass. Near the end, the local Ecclesiarch is so desperate to find the cause of all of this that he starts frantically burning suspected Psykers; murdering little children as his fanatical mob sees them performing Psychic feats without the Psyhic abilities manifesting in real life. You'd still end up being introduced to the Ecclesiarchy, Adeptus Arbites, etc. etc. but it would probably end up appealing to a much larger audience than it would were GW to end up with a movie full of Bolter porn.

Anyways, do you agree/disagree? If so, why? Would another route be preferable?

The Eisenhorn trilogy would be the best intro to the 40k universe. Gives the audience a better sense of relation to it while still introducing the core elements of the setting.

 Eldarain wrote:
The Eisenhorn trilogy would be the best intro to the 40k universe. Gives the audience a better sense of relation to it while still introducing the core elements of the setting.

This.

Relateable characters, and covers an awful lot of ground over the course of the trilogy, so would serve as a pretty brilliant intro to the setting for anyone unfamiliar with it.


I vote Vin Diesel for Eisenhorn. No rush... he gets better for the role the older he gets...

Also, never make a space marine the main protagonists. From the eyes of a regular human they would be amazing, or terrifying depending on who you are. But they make for very boring characters.

If they went live action, and put at least as much budget (preferably more), time and effort as went into all the Halo franchise promotional trailers and spin-off films... I think that could be cool. Just think of Spartans as Astartes, UNSC troops as Imperial Guard, ODST as Storm Troopers, Brutes as Orks, maybe Elites as Eldar, or Tau? Obviously Grunts are like Grots, lol. I think it would be pretty epic. They'd just have to ramp up the scale... like WAY up.

Prob best to avoid Orks or it may just be dismissed as LOTR in space by the normies, which would suffer from the reception given to the Hobbit trilogy

IG vs Tyrannids = Starship Troopers/Aliens

Orks vs anything = LOTR as JustALittleOrkish said. Fifth Element comes to mind...

Marines vs anything = Halo as Anfauglir said

Necrons vs anything = Terminator

Chaos CSM/RH/Deamons vs anything = Event Horizon

Tau are most unique about WH40k. Eldar are also unique but look like elves in space.

Skitarii are pretty unique too. Except for the fact that they remind me of cyborgs like in the terminator movies.
What about a movie with the Space Wolves? Vikings in space. That hasn't been done before.
Or grey Knights even. Medieval dudes in space.
A movie based around one of the boxed games from GW would work too. The boxed games are designed for people who are new to 40k (I think), so if a movie was made based on say, deathwatch: overkill, it could probably provide a little extra info to people who are new to the 40k universe. I.e: anyone who would watch said movie.

I want to see a 40k version of Dredd 3D.

Except instead of a judge battling his way up a city block...

...

I want to see an Arbites dealing out justice to heretics, those touched by chaos and xenophiles.

"You are accused of HERESY AGAINST THE EMPRAH! How do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"Noted." *BLAM*

Traditio wrote:
I want to see an Arbites dealing out justice to heretics.

"ATTENTION CITIZEN. MULTIPLE THIRD PARTIES..."

Tactical_Spam wrote:"ATTENTION CITIZEN. MULTIPLE THIRD PARTIES..."

It would be fething amazing.

The arbites executes a Slanesh demon prince and use his victory to terrorize an entire hive of chaos space marines and cultists.

"The chaos gods are not the law. I..."

All chaos space marines and cultists are subsequently arrested.

Act 2:

He finds out a Gray Knight had been corrupted. He speedily sentences Gray Knight to death:

"YOU BETRAYED THE LAW!" *BLAM*

End of movie.

Traditio wrote:
The arbites execute a Slanesh demon prince

Arbites aren't that cool, nor are they well enough equipped to handle a Daemon prince.


Also, Heretical Grey Knights aren't a thing...

Tactical_Spam wrote:

Arbites aren't that cool, nor are they well enough equipped to handle a Daemon prince.


Also, Heretical Grey Knights aren't a thing...

Be that as it may...

...

...I'd still pay money to see that on the big screen.

Admit it:

You would too.

Traditio wrote:

Tactical_Spam wrote:

Arbites aren't that cool, nor are they well enough equipped to handle a Daemon prince.


Also, Heretical Grey Knights aren't a thing...

Be that as it may...

...

...I'd still pay money to see that on the big screen.

Admit it:

You would too.

I wouldn't actually have a full length, live action movie based around the Adeptus Arbites as their job, at least in the fluff, is boring as feth. So much paper work to do anything. I would make a movie about the Horus Heresy, the Inquisition or some random group of Imperial Guardsmen.

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

Traditio wrote:
I want to see an Arbites dealing out justice to heretics.

"ATTENTION CITIZEN. MULTIPLE THIRD PARTIES..."

I now have an image of Karl Urban as Judge Dredd patrolling the streets of Terra in a 40K setting. The awesome level wpuld be over 9000!! Haha

As for the OP:

I feel like there would be better ways to introduce the 40K universe by finding a happy medium between the sort of thing you're suggesting and full on Bolter porn. For example, we know that war and death are among the primary elements of 40K, but as many books have proven, the politics can be just as interesting. So if you found a way to introduce both of those elements into a story from the perspective of an IG regiment and have Astartes and Traitor Astartes as secondary characters, I reckon that would be good (though it may take a trilogy to get all of that done properly). As for an existing story or set of stories that embodies that? I really haven't read enough 40K fluff to know of any.

Wished they would do it like Avengers. Do a movie about each faction (Leave out Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Black Templars, Just have marines represented by vanilla Space marines). Then have a movie where worlds colide.

Introduce Orks and Marines last. Orks are so out of place they belong in fantasy. Marines should be rare.

What if they started from the beginning? How Necrontyr became necrons. How Eldar were engineered to fight necrons. Some how Orks was involved. A battle among the Old Ones and Ctan. Most people wont understand. This would be great for a television mini series of like 8 episodes.

For a big movie we need 2 or 3 factions fighting each other.
What are some good pair up?

IG agarian world vs Dark Eldar slavers?

Skitarii forge world vs Eldar special ops vs Necron tomb awenking?

Old Imperium of Man politics vs Tau as new threat vs Tyranid Gene stealer infestation

Sisters of Battle and inquisition interrogate IG/Space marines vs Chaos Marines infiltrates the chapter

Iconic Marines vs Orks vs Nids

Considering WH40K fluff is not widely known, adding in 3 factions would be a cluster feth. It would feel extremely shoe horned in.

Any sort of universe spanning epic narrative like the HH would be a major risk for turning into the next Dune. Some posters mentioned Eisenhorn or Gaunt, those would be excellent places to start. Then you can gauge audience reaction to things like Marines, Daemons, and Eldar to see where to go next. You never know with people, maybe the thing that audiences react to the best is the 80's metal band album cover spaceships and battlefleet gothic ends up getting a movie. Best to start broad from a relatable perspective and go from there.

Slaanesh probably won't be in it.

Guard and Sisters defending a shrine world from a chaos invasion. Most of the characters can be humans. Lots of enemy cultists, CGI daemons, and mix in some CSMs. The protagonists can be relatable humans and isn't going to murder your budget on having to CGI space marines all the time. Sisters give a bit of the gothic grim dark flair and goes into the religious elements of the fluff with the god emperior while the guardsmen live and die for the imperium with their standard issue flash lights and balls of steel. Could have towards the end Space Marine drop pods arriving doing there typical "Steel Rehn" surgical strike in the background but not directly interacting with the POV characters too much. In the fluff most guardsmen rarely if ever see a space marine and not putting them into the front and center of the 1st movie would add to the legendary mythos they have for the average imperium citizen/guardsmen.

Or you could reshoot Mad Max Fury Road but paint everyone green with some more cockney accents and you basically have an Ork movie.

Accessibility is the key. The main character needs to be accessible and relatable to your audience. Look at Star Wars. Who is the main character? A farmer's son. Luke doesn't become a Jedi until later and it's a journey that is slowly fed to the audience. We learn what the Force is at the same time as Luke.

If I were to make a Warhammer 40k movie, I'd start it with a Hive or Agri World being attacked by [insert enemy faction here]. The story is seen through the eyes of a teenaged boy or girl who sees her home destroyed and her parents killed in the first 10 minutes of the movie. At the last minute, a mysterious figure (who turns out to be an Inquisitor) and his retinue shows up in a lander and rescues the main character. There is something special about our hero (unknown psyker powers? unauthorized knowledge of tech? particularly good with languages?) that the Inquisitor needs for a mission. The movie then follows a standard Hero's Journey with the driving plot being successful execution of whatever the Inquisitor's mission is (maybe acquiring an artifact that sets up a sequel). We learn about the world of 40k through our hero's eyes. The movie ends with our Hero officially joining the Inquisitor's retinue. Realistically, we shouldn't see a single Space Marine throughout the entire movie. They're rare in the fluff with the overwhelming majority of Imperial Citizens never seeing one in their lifetime.

This would be pretty easy to flesh out into a screenplay.

Just dont let Michael Bay near it please.....
Come to think of it I could list a dozen "big name" hollywood gakkers that should be kept well away.

 Ratius wrote:
Just dont let Michael Bay near it please.....
Come to think of it I could list a dozen "big name" hollywood gakkers that should be kept well away.

Somewhere a monkey's paw closed and Uwe Boll laughed maniacally.

Boll also made a bid to direct the upcoming Warcraft movie, but was turned away by the owners of the Warcraft franchise, Blizzard Entertainment who said: "We will not sell the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you." Boll commented: "Because it’s such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it."[23]

Wikied him.
Brilliant

Make a trilogy, and do it somewhat similarly to the first Dawn of War game in how they made the antagonists:

Film 1: Primary antagonists are the Orks, big, Orky battles culminating with a showdown where the Ork Warboss is killed, with hints of the Eldar and Chaos showing up in the background.

Film 2: Primary antagonists are the Eldar, lots of skullduggery, shenanigans and tomfoolery all leading to a big battle and showdown with the Farseer and Avatar of Khaine. At the end of it, the defeated Farseer calls the Imperial commander/Commisar/Space Marine main protagonist a fool before managing to disappear.

Film 3: We learn that the Eldar were actually trying to stop Chaos and the Imperium's efforts may have only helped the real bad guy. Chaos is now the primary antagonist, while the remnants of the Eldar show up as supporting protagonists - with a cameo from the Orks as they show up again and knock some Chaos heads together (not out of any kind of alliance or wish to help, purely because they showed up for a fight and the Chaos contingent happened to be the first ones they bumped into upon arriving on the scene.)

Failing that, make films about Ciaphas Cain.

 Robin5t wrote:
Make a trilogy, and do it somewhat similarly to the first Dawn of War game in how they made the antagonists:

Film 1: Primary antagonists are the Orks, big, Orky battles culminating with a showdown where the Ork Warboss is killed, with hints of the Eldar and Chaos showing up in the background.

Film 2: Primary antagonists are the Eldar, lots of skullduggery, shenanigans and tomfoolery all leading to a big battle and showdown with the Farseer and Avatar of Khaine. At the end of it, the defeated Farseer calls the Imperial commander/Commisar/Space Marine main protagonist a fool before managing to disappear.

Film 3: We learn that the Eldar were actually trying to stop Chaos and the Imperium's efforts may have only helped the real bad guy. Chaos is now the primary antagonist, while the remnants of the Eldar show up as supporting protagonists - with a cameo from the Orks as they show up again and knock some Chaos heads together (not out of any kind of alliance or wish to help, purely because they showed up for a fight and the Chaos contingent happened to be the first ones they bumped into upon arriving on the scene.)

Failing that, make films about Ciaphas Cain.

I would totally watch a film about Ciaphas Cain, interspersed with cut scenes of his =][= girlfriend going over his memoirs. We could learn about the world of 40k as seen from an IG perspective and it would be hilarious to boot.

Screw live action I would like to see an animated 40k universe through the lines of stuff like the DCAU. You can draw things in a stylized way that would be able to look good and make action pieces look awesome.

I would love to see the battle of Rynn or Helsreach in this kind of format. You can make space marines look like they belong with the world without strange CGI messing it up. Hell can you imagine this for the book "Know No Fear"? I would even settle for star wars the clone wars style CGI for this.


Other than that, I agree maybe something like the skitarii or the path of a tech priest explorator in the unknown. Something like that.

@Tiger9Gamer: The issue with animated movies/shows simply aren't taken seriously by most people, nor are they seen by most people. A live action movie, on the other hand, is seen by huge numbers of people, in comparison, due to the fact that it plays on the big screen, and its commercials are going to be seen by more people.

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:
@Tiger9Gamer: The issue with animated movies/shows simply aren't taken seriously by most people, nor are they seen by most people. A live action movie, on the other hand, is seen by huge numbers of people, in comparison, due to the fact that it plays on the big screen, and its commercials are going to be seen by more people.

Spoiler:

slip wrote:Slaanesh probably won't be in it.

Cuz nobody watches or gets excited about Pixar stuff, amiright? And shows like Batman the Animated Series don't have fans who grew up on it still gushing about it to this day. Or Transformers. Or TMNT. Or...

I actually think an animated TV show could be pretty epic. It should probably revolve around a cast of both Imperial Guard (audience viewpoint, relatable folks) and Space Marines (superheroes). I think the nature of 40k might lend itself better to an episodic format.
Of course, this is pretty unlikely to happen right now, but hey, who knows what the future might hold?

 fallinq wrote:

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:
@Tiger9Gamer: The issue with animated movies/shows simply aren't taken seriously by most people, nor are they seen by most people. A live action movie, on the other hand, is seen by huge numbers of people, in comparison, due to the fact that it plays on the big screen, and its commercials are going to be seen by more people.

Spoiler:

slip wrote:Slaanesh probably won't be in it.

Cuz nobody watches or gets excited about Pixar stuff, amiright? And shows like Batman the Animated Series don't have fans who grew up on it still gushing about it to this day. Or Transformers. Or TMNT. Or...

I actually think an animated TV show could be pretty epic. It should probably revolve around a cast of both Imperial Guard (audience viewpoint, relatable folks) and Space Marines (superheroes). I think the nature of 40k might lend itself better to an episodic format.
Of course, this is pretty unlikely to happen right now, but hey, who knows what the future might hold?

Epic =/= widely seen by the general public. Take Warhammer 40,000, for example. NO matter how awesome it is, it remains unknown to the vast majority of the First World.

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:

 fallinq wrote:

 Lord_Inquisitor_Doge wrote:
@Tiger9Gamer: The issue with animated movies/shows simply aren't taken seriously by most people, nor are they seen by most people. A live action movie, on the other hand, is seen by huge numbers of people, in comparison, due to the fact that it plays on the big screen, and its commercials are going to be seen by more people.

Spoiler:

slip wrote:Slaanesh probably won't be in it.

Cuz nobody watches or gets excited about Pixar stuff, amiright? And shows like Batman the Animated Series don't have fans who grew up on it still gushing about it to this day. Or Transformers. Or TMNT. Or...

I actually think an animated TV show could be pretty epic. It should probably revolve around a cast of both Imperial Guard (audience viewpoint, relatable folks) and Space Marines (superheroes). I think the nature of 40k might lend itself better to an episodic format.
Of course, this is pretty unlikely to happen right now, but hey, who knows what the future might hold?

Epic =/= widely seen by the general public. Take Warhammer 40,000, for example. NO matter how awesome it is, it remains unknown to the vast majority of the First World.

How the heck do you think stuff like star trek got started then? It was something new that people had no clue about and started to watch. 40k Would be kinda like that, where even if people have no clue about it they would see a promo and thing "Hey, that looks pretty cool. Lets see this."