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Keep in mind guys, comic book movies didn't become a big thing until relatively recently. Videogame movies still struggle, and are generally viewed as being not very good. Both those mediums have also, historically, had a much broader fanbase than tabletop war games. They're also more likely to have a single, self contained story. 40k may be the biggest, but it's still a tabletop war game. Investors are gonna be cautious about adapting something like that. It's never been done seriously before.

I'm gonna note that table top games being made into movies is pretty damned rare. the ONLY one I can think of off the top of my head is D&D the movie. (although Underworld apparently borrows a fair bit from WoD)

 Portugal Jones wrote:

PalmerC wrote:

Thanks So why no license for such a large IP?

If you'd pull your head out of your ass long enough to actually pay attention, it's all about the money.

.

That was exactly the kind of opinion I was hoping to hear rather than you just checking out my ass


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BrianDavion wrote:
I'm gonna note that table top games being made into movies is pretty damned rare. the ONLY one I can think of off the top of my head is D&D the movie. (although Underworld apparently borrows a fair bit from WoD)

I think this is a good point. If you look at it in this context they would never make a 40k movie. Granted it's a tv show but if you look at Walking Dead I do not think it was at all well known as a comic book to the general public but it's stated to be a #1 TV show now. And I don't think Agents of shield did exceedingly well and it was associated with a Blockbuster movie. So I am guessing for it to happen to 40k in any film medium it's going to have to break a mold somewhere.

BrianDavion wrote:
I'm gonna note that table top games being made into movies is pretty damned rare. the ONLY one I can think of off the top of my head is D&D the movie. (although Underworld apparently borrows a fair bit from WoD)

Does Battleships count?

Seriously though, a good idea and a good story is a good idea and a good story regardless of its origin. The issue is that many licences, video games especially, either aren't fundamentally good ideas for adaptation, or, more frequently, simply aren't done well.

I'm looking at you Uwe Boll.

Does anyone else think that any of the Ciaphas Cain books would be perfect to make into a movie?

And movies can be made with no romantic sub-plot, look at Shawshank Redemption, Terminator 2, Reservoir Dogs, Dirty Dozen, Great Escape, Platoon, In Cold Blood, Dirty Harry.

I'd love to see a movie about Space Marines thats a bit like a fusion of Reservoir Dogs and the Great Escape. Say a squad gets stuck on a Chaos held planet and needs to find a way to escape off-world, that'd be a story I'd want to watch.

 TranSpyre wrote:
Does anyone else think that any of the Ciaphas Cain books would be perfect to make into a movie?.

My vote would go to an Eisenhorn trilogy, frankly ... even has the romantic subplot that is apparently needed to get female viewers...

I'm struggling to see how 40k would ever work in a one off big budget movie setting. Maybe something like a multiple movie approach LoTR, Matrix) might allow enough time to set the scene, develop it and reacg a conclusion.

Otherwise how about a cartoon series instead. I'm thinking DBZ or Gundam as 2 examples of shows that I've watched in the past , which might work in a 40k setting. Focus around a single squad/chapter with each series showing them battling a different enemy in a different campaign

Ugh. If there is a format that 40k should -never- be, it is anime.

 insaniak wrote:

 TranSpyre wrote:
Does anyone else think that any of the Ciaphas Cain books would be perfect to make into a movie?.

My vote would go to an Eisenhorn trilogy, frankly ... even has the romantic subplot that is apparently needed to get female viewers...

yeah I don't get why hollywood insists on adding a romantic subplot to everything. *eyes the Hobbit*

 curran12 wrote:
Ugh. If there is a format that 40k should -never- be, it is anime.

I respectfully disagree. Anime is potentially, an excellent platform for a setting like 40K. All you need do to is getting the "style" down right and you're good to go. Take a look at Jin-Roh if you don't belive me.

yeah but if they did a 40k anime the primarchs would all be feminine looking white guys with impossiable hair and japanese names

Yeah a 40k Anime with a good gritty style could be something.

Not all Anime studios do characters that are androginous and silly.

i mean look at MAD studio who made the Vampire Hunter D; Bloodlust movie and the Highlander search for vengeance anime movie, and the excellent Devil may Cry anime those are fething awesome.





A 40k anime with this tyle would be kick ass, at least it would be better then Ultramarine style...

40k has a pretty small fan base on a grand scale of things. I'd be surprised if there's even half a million people who actively buy 40k products globally. It would have to have appeal beyond it's regular fan base to be worth considering, which is not impossible of course but it does come down to how well you can write an appealing story in the 40k universe vs any other sci fi universe.

 curran12 wrote:
And which demographics are these, exactly? If you're going to throw them out there, let's see some proof. Your best bet is http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html which shows a greater degree of women preferring romance, but hardly to the degree that "all women like romance" and "women will only go to romantic films".

To be fair here, the OP didn't say "all women like romance", it said "cutting off the interest by many if not most woman that make up the general public" which is largely supported by the link you gave, with sci fi and action adventure being approx 2 times more popular among males and romance being 50% more popular among women.

I think you sort of made a mountain out of a mole hill with the whole sexism thing.

BrianDavion wrote:
yeah but if they did a 40k anime the primarchs would all be feminine looking white guys with impossiable hair and japanese names

It seems likely (based on that comment) that you're not actually familiar with how broad a range of styles is covered by the term 'anime'...

To me, a 40k based movie should be like my favorite movie.... Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil'... and not the Love Conquers All version...

Why does it have to be anime?
Couldn't it just be a regular comic?

I do think a 40k movie could work. Some of the better BL books could definitely be turned into a movie, and with some work, the Horus Heresy might even make for a good sci-fi TV series.
The popularity of the Dawn of War games has definitely shown that there is mainstream potential for 40k (or rather, that the setting does not matter as long as the product is good)

 Azreal13 wrote:

I'm looking at you Uwe Boll.

Uwe Boll is a pretty good example of why GW isn't going to let someone else get to do what they want with their universe. Those scenes in 'The Majestic' where Jim Carey is listening to the studio execs slaughter his movie is not all that far removed from reality. Like how in 'The Matrix,' humans being kept around to use their brains as a massive computing network? No way! No one will understand that! But batteries! Everyone understands batteries! They're using humans as batteries!

There was something I read a little while ago about a script writer who just had a movie made of his script, which ended up using just the title and the name of the character, and while the movie wasn't awful, he'd really loved the original idea but would never get to do it because despite what the final product ended up as, the studio still held the rights to the original script he'd submitted.

I think it would be easy for 40k to have a Hollywood style plot.

*Show orks in a field of victory at some kind of temple. Warboss finds some kind of crystal/artifact with a fancy name.

*Intro/Credits

*Imperial Guardsman/Cpt/Ect has loving family, that he just comes home to after a "war." Next day finds out temple invaded, called back into duty.

*Goes to fight orks, Space Marines save the day.
*Chaos arrives, converts/kills SMs (or SM could just flake out)

*Main character finds secret involving crystal/relic, kicks Chaos Ass

*Returns home, 2 seconds later called for war again.
*Roll Credits

"So are these guys supposed to be Star Wars Stormtroopers with really big 80's shoulder pads?"

The imagery wouldn't carryover well from tabletop to screen in my opinion. That and the overarching plots/stories have already been done better by the original authors that the black library hacks ripped-off for ideas.

Take the movie "The Expendables". Make all of the heroes space marines, make all the bad guys orks. Change nothing else. You now have a 40k movie.

To anyone that isn't a huge fan of 40k (and trust me, 40k isn't as widely known as you'd like to think), it'd literally just be an ultra generic sci-fi action film. Even if they stick close to the background material, it's not like anyone is going to know or care that they mentioned some Emprah guy for a few minutes.

So the whole issue is, why would a movie company pay for the GW license to make it when they could just come up with their own? They could have their own space marines and their own emperor and their own xenos filth, and to 99% of the population it'd be the exact same as if the movie was 40k themed.

Furthermore, to make any sort of movie that actually gives you all the background for 40k, they'd have to make at least a trilogy to be able to fit all the BS in while also telling a meaningful story.... something that no one wants to invest money in.


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 Redcruisair wrote:

 curran12 wrote:
Ugh. If there is a format that 40k should -never- be, it is anime.

I respectfully disagree. Anime is potentially, an excellent platform for a setting like 40K. All you need do to is getting the "style" down right and you're good to go. Take a look at Jin-Roh if you don't belive me.

Spoiler:

Wait, are those robot Nazis?

The real reason?

The don't want to expose themselves to increased attention so that Fox sues them for having IP violated Aliens, Cameron for copying the Terminator Exoskeleton, the Robert Heinlein family for ripping off Starship Troopers and Drop pods, Rebellion Entertainment for ripping off Judge Dredd, etc.

If they are going to make a movie though, they ought to take the game Space Marine and edit it for a 120 minute movie.