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You get to make one movie about 40k. What factions does it focus on?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Twisted Trueborn with Blaster



Ottawa

A few things to keep in mind:
1. You get any budget you want... but the movie is still expected to turn a profit. So if you want a summer blockbuster kind of budget ($200 million), the movie must have broad appeal beyond the 40k fanbase: easy introduction to the setting, no overwhelming the audience with a needless amount of lore, not R-rated, not too much of a sausagefest, not too likely to be banned by some countries, etc. Conversely, if you keep your budget small ($10 million), you can make something lore-heavy just for the fans, but of course it'll have to be smaller-scale (maybe aim more for a horror film than an epic war film).
2. The movie must focus on the "present time" of the 40k universe. Sorry, no Horus Heresy!
3. No sequel is in the works until the box office numbers come in. Your plot can leave the door open for sequels, but the movie must stand on its own.
4. Careful about IP issues, or accusations of plagiarism or derivativeness. Geeky media like board games, video games and comics are pretty forgiving when it comes to blatant ripoffs (coughtyranidscough)... but movies, less so.

So the main question is: what factions should the movie focus on? Which ones are the most iconic and most likely to give newcomers a good overview of the 40k universe? Obviously you cannot have them all. A two-hour plot that tries to include the Imperium, Chaos, Necrons, T'au, Orks and Eldar would be needlessly chaotic, and would look like you're just trying to tick as many boxes as possible. But I think a movie could comfortably include three factions, with perhaps a few others being alluded to (e.g. the hero being introduced as a veteran of a war against Orks, but no Orks feature in the story).

I think the main characters should be normal humans, affiliated either with the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition or the Rogue Traders. If Space Marines are involved at all, they should be treated in dialogue as semi-mythical and only turn up as reinforcements in the third act to help drive the final push against the main antagonist.

.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/03/16 21:53:30


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San Jose, CA

Guard vs chaos cultists/marines.
   
Made in ie
Regular Dakkanaut





Ireland

Squats and only squats.
   
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A Ryan Reynolds Necron comedy with slapstick humour. Use the purge of a planet as a joke.

GSC zombie-style movie with little GSC screentime and a focus on living in a hive city. Cramped evironments, noises of people living almost on top of eachother as well as machinery. Silence used for drama.
   
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 Horla wrote:
Squats and only squats.

I woulda said it if I thought it was even remotely possible.....

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Stubborn Dark Angels Veteran Sergeant






You do Eisenhorn Xenos.

Easy money.

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Space Marines and Orks. Straight up action movie like the recent Mad Max. Save Eldar for the sequel. Guard vs Tyranids has been done before (Aliens).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/03/16 22:28:55


 
   
Made in us
Armored Iron Breaker




Charlotte, NC

 Gnarlly wrote:
Space Marines and Orks. Straight up action movie like the recent Mad Max. Save Eldar for the sequel. Guard vs Tyranids has been done before (Aliens).


Basically this.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/03/16 22:31:18


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Made in ca
Secretive Dark Angels Veteran



Canada

 endlesswaltz123 wrote:
You do Eisenhorn Xenos.

Easy money.


Have to agree! You don’t need to be a lore fanatic to get into it. Accessible story and characters, with enough 40k going on to be different.

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Inquisition. Nobody expects the inquisition...
   
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Gaunt's ghosts. The guard need the spotlight.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut





Easy peasy:

A bunch of Catachans hunted by a single Xenos. Wait a minute, we got that already in the 80s...
   
Made in au
Regular Dakkanaut





I'm going to ignore points 2 and 3 say pre-fall Eldar. The reason why is a good movie (or two) that explains the schisms that led to birth of Slaneesh sets up future movies well.

But, with points 2 and 3 in play I'd do a movie from a Tau-aligned human perspective. I'd make it about Space Marines and normal guardsman fighting for a better life and more freedom.

Either that or a death guard/inquisition movie, where a squad has to do some dodgy stuff, realises comes into conflict with the inquisitor.... thinking a mix of Pitch-black/Riddick-style, with the Inquisitor actually being a corrupt douche, leaving people at the end going... "wait... who were the good guys?" and debating if the marines, inquisitor or the target of the squad were the "good guys".

   
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You lost me at 'not R-rated' because Chaos is the setting's usp and it would need to be pant-wettingly scary to do it justice. Also, chainswords.

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I'd do a noir-style Inquisitor hunting down a parasitic genestealer cult infiltration in a gloomy hive city. In the 3rd act, it turns out the hive city is actually carved out of a necron palace tomb and the cult has ignorantly awakened the sleepers below...

It never ends well 
   
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 XeonDragon wrote:
I'm going to ignore points 2 and 3 say pre-fall Eldar. The reason why is a good movie (or two) that explains the schisms that led to birth of Slaneesh sets up future movies well.


Hard disagree. This is the sort of trivia that the general audience won't give a dead rat carcass about and the 'dedicated fans' will only want to argue with you about. Its lose-lose.
It doesn't inform future movies at all- its too distant, too alien and too horrifying. Its also irrelevant to any real plot of a 90-120 minute movie you'd care to make set in <current 40k timeline>

You want something to draw audiences in and give them something to connect with. Which, with 40k, is actually hard without ignoring the source material with a wink and a nod.
The familiar factions are... unsympathetic, and most of the rest are worse. And also don't really present the sort of side stories and B plots that sell people on movies (things that provide emotional investment).


---
An Eisenhorn type story is probably best. Particularly if it focuses on a team of Inquisitorial henchman so you can have emotional bonds and conflicts. Pick a secret enemy and run with it.

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your mind

R rated inquisition

   
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Sump divers in the bottom of a Hive have uncovered a strange artifact (a daemon possessed weapon, some strange xeno tech, an STC for some lost item or the like) and a giant Whos Who of factions are all trying to fun for it - local gangs/crime lords for sale off world, henchmen of the planetary governor, some of the noble houses, the local chaos cult, a tech priest has dispatched some skitarii to retrieve it, and an inquisitor has entered the fray. Think like the movie Snatch - everyone is kind of awful and we bounce from group to group as they bounce off of each other trying to get it. Basically an overall interesting movie that introduces several of the factions and creates a basic foundation for movie goers to interpret the Imperium from so that if successful, future films will need to do less ground work.
   
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I'm not totally sold on it, but the first thing that came into mind was the setting described in the first Ciaphas Cain Novel "For the Emperor". Note that the following might contain massive spoilers to this book, even if it is just a rough description.

A world at the Imperium - Tau Border, the Tau have a "diplomatic mission" on the planet, a significant part of the population are already Tau-Sympathizers. As tensions rise, the Imperium finally reacts and sends a regiment, but still on the orders to mainly quell the rebellious populace and not (yet) all out attack the Tau presence.
I'm undecided if the viewpoint should drift between the IG soldiers, some non-military off-World followers of the IG (as kind of neutral observer), someone from the normal populace and the Tau or if it would be better to stay fixed on one dude/dudette. Either way I think (!) it might be an interesting introduction for non-WH40k experienced audience to change from "Uh, those aliens try to infiltrate/turn this planet from the humans" and "Live sure looks better with the Tau". But with enough information about the cruelty of the universe and the impending retaliation of the imperium givven, that you are left wondering if the Tau are aware what risk they put their new "citizens" in and doubting the aliens are able and willing to defend them and mostly count on the Imperium and other enemies being to busy elsewhere.
To drive the point home it turns out that a genestealer cult is also active on the planet and has infiltrated the tau-sympathizing rebels. So IG and Tau have to work together to survive.

The impression at the end of the film should definitly undecided. The vision the Tau (proclaim to) have should be very attractive and hopeful, in stark contrast to the hellhole the imperium can be. Still the watcher should be in doubt about their motives and have doubts if the chance to survival for the people are not currently better at the side of the imperium. I don't know how good you can achieve this, but it would be a nice touch if one feels a bit of pity instead of just disgust for what the Imperium and humanity has become

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Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!






I woudln't be interested in making any movie which was bound to your requirements. I dont really like lo-bro mass-appeal Hollywood dross.

If I had to conceptualize a 40K movie, I'd probably go with a Necromunda style setting. So mostly humans, chaos and mutants, with maybe some exotic bounty hunters thrown in. Ecclesiarchy and Water Guild thrown in for flare.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/03/17 09:30:31


 
   
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Tanith? Sabbath crusade.

Has basically everything it needs in it.

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Port Carmine

I would pitch some bland, by-the-numbers Space Marine power fantasy, and when I've got the money I'd hand it over to Aaron Dembski-Bowden to turn this concept into a film:

Aaron Dembski-Bowden wrote:

For years now, I've wanted to write a Romeo & Juliet style story in Commorragh. Not so much about the romance, but the "Two households, both alike in dignity (In fair Commorragh, where we lay our scene). From ancient grudge break to new mutiny..."

Two ancient warring Dark Eldar houses trying to murder one another, while two of their scions try to work together to screw over all their other relatives and go their own way,making their own warband.

It would sell exactly three copies, and I'd be fired for the graphic scenes of torture/evil romance, etc. but it'd be a killer story if I could pull it off.


.....maybe get the Coen Brothers to direct

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/03/17 09:38:02


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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






I would have the focus be on Guard vs Orks.

The guard would be Catachans, stationed on an outpost planet when a space hulk arrives in orbit, brimming with Orks.

Opening part of the film would be character introductions, get people attached to them, and then the orks arrival.

Then comes a daring mission from the catachan lead characters to perform some super-important, super-secret mission. This might be instructed by an inquisitor to recover a vital artefact from within the ork zone.

Then the Guard get instructed to fall back and prepare for exterminatus, whilst they are on the secret mission. The guard fall back and board ships to leave the planet, some of which will be destroyed by the orks in an epic fight scene.

The catachans will then find themselves surrounded on all sides and on a planet scheduled for demolition in 2 weeks. They use some comminicator to request extraction from the inquisitor, who basically tells them "find the artefact, then we'll talk".

The catachans then have to fight through massive amounts of orks, using jungle warfare and traps and such, to find the artefact and signal the inquisitor. The inquisitor would basically say that their options are to either prevent the artefact falling into xenos hands, or to extract it. If no-one has eyes on the artefact, exterminatus is the only viable option.

The orks will, it turns out, have found the artefact and have built a base around its location, so the catachans have to infiltrate and steal it. Ultimately the alarm is raised, warranting a death-defying chase sequence where the catachans steal the bosses best battlewagon, and all the orks lesser vehicles give chase to try and get it back.

Ultimately, the movie will culminate in the catachans going toe-to-toe with a warboss, and somehow beating it in a dramatic, explosive manner.

Then the lone survivor can get extraction, and watch the planet burn from orbit, saying an emotional goodbye to the men they left dead on the way.


Finally, the inquisitor requests the last catachan to join his inquisitorial squad to work towards completing a project which will "turn the tide of this war", and the catachan accepts.

In a final scene, the Inquisitor is seen explaining to a shadowy figure of a grand inquisitor the progress on the artefact, and how they are "close to unlocking the ultimate weapon", and that "the exterminatus will not have damaged it". The Artefact (which might have been a cylinder) is being worked on by servitors and enginseers. The final scene is it unlocking and opening to reveal a necron symbol, promising a sequel.

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In-universe documentary on Vespid mating habits for Tau children.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/03/17 09:51:23


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 lord_blackfang wrote:
In-universe documentary on Vespid mating habits for Tau children.


I can imagine a tau ethereal having a voice like David Attenborough!

12,300 points of Orks
9th W/D/L with Orks, 4/0/2
I am Thoruk, the Barbarian, Slayer of Ducks, and This is my blog!

I'm Selling Infinity, 40k, dystopian wars, UK based!

I also make designs for t-shirts and mugs and such on Redbubble! 
   
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Imperial Guard vs. Orks.

Plot is about someone living in some typical imperial hiveworld, a true fascist hellhole, gets recruited, fights against gruesome orks (not the funny kind, more like in The Beast series or the Space Marine game, Orks that tear people in pieces with their bare hands). Space Marines (Iron Hands) come to "rescue" but are just as terrible as the Imperial guard leaders (or Orks).
In the end the protagonist is saved by Tau that seem to be a real salvation. But let's see how it turns out in part 2...
   
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It has to be the Guard. Bleak, dark humour, immense scale, gothic horror, meat grinder. If GW ever were in a position to make a series of films you have to start at the human level and work up from there in later stories. Worst thing they could possibly do is make the first film about space marines.
   
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Regular Dakkanaut




Cynista wrote:
It has to be the Guard. Bleak, dark humour, immense scale, gothic horror, meat grinder. If GW ever were in a position to make a series of films you have to start at the human level and work up from there in later stories. Worst thing they could possibly do is make the first film about space marines.


100% this. Keep marines to the action sequences only. Their lack of humanity does not make for compelling characters at all (just watch Ultramarine for proof of this).

I would go with guard/planetary pdf fending off a genestealer cult uprising...also allows for possible inquisitorial presence and most importantly sequel opportunities!! (NIDS invade, our plucky guard troop have to find a way to send for help, HUGE battle climax with drop pods full of marines everywhere).
   
 
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