Fan movie ("The Lord Inquisitor")
That looked pretty cool with the exception of the Space Marines firering the heavy bolters and that looked silly. I would not think that Space Marines would suffer that much from the recoil to be honest. I'll be keeping an eye on this develops.
It really looks beautiful, but I expect the project to be put down.
The last fan-made non-commercial 40K-movie I know about (titled "Damnatus" and made by some german fans who are althoug the founders of sphaerentor.com) where ordered by GW´s legal deparment not to distribut the finished movie (which they intended to do, as said, non-commercial) AFTER they first got the green light from GamesWorkshop in regard to making this movie.
A lot of love and ambition ...all laid to rest.
from france
impressive i like
The Lord Inquisitor is a great project. If we are lucky we will see the movie next year, if not than probably 2014.
There is also another fan made movie "Exterminatus". Currently they are in need for money to pay the production, shooting etc. If they raise all the money needed the movie will be finished this summer, if not...well who knows...They still need 714€ and only 9 days left.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exterminatus-W40K-Fan-Film/211092932286110
Gregorius21778: It has already GW approval and BL writer Aaron Dembski -Bowden is writing the story.
I think it's a visually stunning piece, but I do worry about the accessibility of 40k movies to a public outside the fanbase. I desperately want to see a good 40k movie: but I worry that inaccessible ones diminish the possibility of that ever happening.
A lot of 40k CGI stuff like this (and I include the recent 40k game Space Marine in this) has a tendency to be rather humourless, ponderous and (although rendered with incredible skill) somewhat visually busy.
40k isn't a cliche - it's a genuinely fascinating and incredibly detailed dystopian setting with amazing potential for movies. But there is a very real risk that getting it wrong with the initial attempts would make the whole setting appear ridiculous to outsiders.
Getting the adaptation right is crucial: anyone else remember the Dungeons and Dragons movie?
A lot of 40k fans would howl in disgust about this, but for 40k movies to work, they are (initially) going to have to concentrate upon the kind of stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention from existing fans in the setting. By this I mean things like normal, human characters an audience can relate to. Good dialogue. Flashes of humour. A love interest.
I'm not saying that 40k movies should be "Hollywoodized" to the extent that you're having Space Marine Commanders conducting doomed romances with Eldar Farseers...what I'm saying is that a mega-budget recreation of every major battle of the Badab Wars spread over 2 hours will guarantee that the whole of 40k becomes utterly laughable to the public at large.
To me, 40k movies should start small and build towards the large classic set pieces of the setting. Begin with, say, a Dark Heresy scale, with small groups of relatively normal humans interacting and going about their business. Save Marines/Titans/Grey Knights for later sequels. There's a real risk that CGI 40k movies shoot their bolt too early by concentrating on the wider scale stuff first.
If you can have a good story on a small scale that gets the public interested, you can then build and grow on that by introducing other 40k elements later. Eisenhorn and Ravenor would work far better as 40k movies than, for example, the Horus Heresy novels, given their smaller scale, cast of likeable characters and immediately understandable core concept: Dystopian Space Detective.
Lightbringer said:
40k isn't a cliche ...
Yes it is.
40K is every cliche rolled into on big lump. That's why we like it.
Lightbringer said:
...it's a genuinely fascinating and incredibly detailed dystopian setting with amazing potential for movies. But there is a very real risk that getting it wrong with the initial attempts would make the whole setting appear ridiculous to outsiders.
I agree with 40K's potential, but 40K is ridiculous to outsiders. It's just the way it is with any sci-fi or fantasy property.
Aliens, Space Marines and the other more outlandish aspects would need to be kept in check on the first outings. As you said, it would need to be "Hollywoodized" to be able to find any acceptance outside of the niche market that already likes it.
Lightbringer said:
Getting the adaptation right is crucial: anyone else remember the Dungeons and Dragons movie?
Krull was awesome!
...oh, you meant that other steaming pile with the Wayans in it, from 2000.
Krull was so awesome they dissociated themselves from D&D before release.
ItsUncertainWho said:
Lightbringer said:
40k isn't a cliche ...
Yes it is.
40K is every cliche rolled into on big lump. That's why we like it.
Yes, I kinda walked straight into that one, didn't I?
You're right, it trades on a huge number of tropes and archetypes. And it certainly does in practice often cross over into cliche, but I'd argue that's a resuilt of poor execution of individual elements rather than any actual cliches within the core features of the setting itself.
And yeah, you're right the depressing truth is that ostensibly 40k IS going to be potentialy ridiculous to outsiders. 40K is cool. We all know it. We also all know that 40k could come across like a mad woman's breakfast if presented in the wrong way.
But there are promising signs. Hollywood is throwing silly money at increasingly obscure sci-fi properties all the time (Transformers, anyone?) As well, this century has been characterised by a series of increasingly respectful interpretations of scif fi and fantasy properties that have brought some cultural respectability to both genres: think Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. 25 years ago, a film based on a comic would be an oddity: now just about everything in the cinema seems to have a cape.
There's going to be a full blown big budget 40k movie one day, mark my words. I just really hope it doesn't suck...
Lightbringer said:
I think it's a visually stunning piece, but I do worry about the accessibility of 40k movies to a public outside the fanbase. I desperately want to see a good 40k movie: but I worry that inaccessible ones diminish the possibility of that ever happening.
40k isn't a cliche - it's a genuinely fascinating and incredibly detailed dystopian setting with amazing potential for movies. But there is a very real risk that getting it wrong with the initial attempts would make the whole setting appear ridiculous to outsiders.
Getting the adaptation right is crucial: anyone else remember the Dungeons and Dragons movie?
A lot of 40k fans would howl in disgust about this, but for 40k movies to work, they are (initially) going to have to concentrate upon the kind of stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention from existing fans in the setting. By this I mean things like normal, human characters an audience can relate to. Good dialogue. Flashes of humour. A love interest.
I'm not saying that 40k movies should be "Hollywoodized" to the extent that you're having Space Marine Commanders conducting doomed romances with Eldar Farseers...what I'm saying is that a mega-budget recreation of every major battle of the Badab Wars spread over 2 hours will guarantee that the whole of 40k becomes utterly laughable to the public at large.
To me, 40k movies should start small and build towards the large classic set pieces of the setting. Begin with, say, a Dark Heresy scale, with small groups of relatively normal humans interacting and going about their business. Save Marines/Titans/Grey Knights for later sequels. There's a real risk that CGI 40k movies shoot their bolt too early by concentrating on the wider scale stuff first.
If you can have a good story on a small scale that gets the public interested, you can then build and grow on that by introducing other 40k elements later. Eisenhorn and Ravenor would work far better as 40k movies than, for example, the Horus Heresy novels, given their smaller scale, cast of likeable characters and immediately understandable core concept: Dystopian Space Detective.
borithan said:
If a film was ever to be made both GW and the film studio would want to have SPAHS MAREENS everywhere, as that is the iconic thing, the thing that everybody knows about 40k (if they know anything about it), and of course GW would want to attract people to buying their flagship product.
Sadly, I'm inclined to agree with you. And I think it would be a mistake for GW to do that.
In my view, Space Marines are likely to overwhelm any attempts at human scale storytelling; they're going to be difficult for the 40k uninitiated to care about. Personally, I'd save 'em for the second movie, or the second series. If the initial movie/series is good enough, it'll have those uninitiated into 40k frothing at the mouth at the idea of seeing them in action. Whereas if you start with seeing them in action, they'll lose their impact. It's all about the slow build.
In a way, Space Marines are to 40k what the Jedi are to Star Wars: the whole setting kind of revolves around them, but the more on screen time they have, the less entertaining the movie. The best Star Wars films didn't really have proper Jedi, just old men and cyborgs. Those movies were better for the absence of Jedi.
I personally think the more screen time Space Marines have, the worse the movie would be. Yes, you need to have them, but have them as part of the setting, not as characters.
Lightbringer said:
I personally think the more screen time Space Marines have, the worse the movie would be. Yes, you need to have them, but have them as part of the setting, not as characters.
Statues, murals, stained glass windows, posters, and paintings. Those are the answers.
Yes. Or perhaps have the main characters witness a Marine assault - in a similar way in which the principle characters in Star Wars get caught up in the Battle of Hoth, that sort of thing.
Done correctly, a movie or TV series about the inquisition that featured an assault by a bunch of space marines could be epic. Your regular cast, the inquisitor and his party witness the terrifyng fury of the astartes as the marines go through a fortified enemy position like chilli through a cowboy.
You'd play it up, have the fortress spoken of as heavily defended, describe in detail the well armed veterans that guard it, then show the religious awe that the good guys show the marines as literal angels of death, less a military group and more the divine wrath of the emperor in physical form. It could be very epic.
Totally agree that a show or movie about marines would suck. Oh, hello Ultramarines movie, didn't see you there....
@ Lightbringer and ItsUncertainWho, I totally agree. Dark Heresy Would be the way to go to get the most buy in from regular movie goers.
Did anyone see Priest? I'm not saying it was great but I'm surprised they weren't sued by GW (perhaps they were).
I'm going to go for Eisenhorn directed by David Lynch for my own tastes, but maybe he's a bit left of centre (or even dead?). I would steer clear of Ravenor because everyone would think it was an X-Men knock off.
Yeah, pretty much make Eisenhorn into a movie, it's probably the easiest to translate over.
SomVone said:
Yeah, pretty much make Eisenhorn into a movie, it's probably the easiest to translate over.
EISENHORN SPOILER ALERT
EISENHORN SPOILER ALERT
EISENHORN SPOILER ALERT
The third book even has a love triangle, what more could Hollywood ask for?
Zakalwe said:
Did anyone see Priest? I'm not saying it was great but I'm surprised they weren't sued by GW (perhaps they were).
Priest was an enjoyable, fun, slightly flawed movie.
GW couldn't back up any form of claim that anything in priest was theirs. I could list a half dozen books from the decades before GW existed that would have a better claim to influence of the movie than anything of GW's. GW stole all their ideas from better writers to begin with, they just shoehorned everything into one setting.
Lightbringer said:
Yes. Or perhaps have the main characters witness a Marine assault - in a similar way in which the principle characters in Star Wars get caught up in the Battle of Hoth, that sort of thing.
I remember being in a theatre and seeing the trailer for Chronicles of Riddick and I thought for a few glorious seconds that someone actually made a 40K movie (those gothic ships and all!!!) man was I disappointed...
I agree completely though that Eisenhorn would be a great movie or that a Dark Heresy themed TV series would be the best place to start. Perhaps GW isn't as clueless as we think on the matter though as they did start with Dark Heresy as an RPG first and then got bigger with RT before Deathwatch came out. I think had it been the other way the whole line would have flopped and this is from a guy who loves ALL the 40K I can get my hands on.
As to the Inquisitor movie, I am really excited about this project but I do have to say I hope they get better voice talent. The trailers look cool but I wanted to cringe when I heard people speak. I don't mean to be a jerk about that, it's an honest criticism and something that I think can kill a movie just as surely as anything else.
Morkalg said:
As to the Inquisitor movie, I am really excited about this project but I do have to say I hope they get better voice talent. The trailers look cool but I wanted to cringe when I heard people speak. I don't mean to be a jerk about that, it's an honest criticism and something that I think can kill a movie just as surely as anything else.
I wouldn't worry. One of the things that has always struck me about "official" 40k cinematics is the quality of the voice talent. Peter "Darth Maul" Serafonowicz,Terence "Kneel before Zod!!" Stamp, Mark "Tinker Tailor" Strong, John "I've starred in everything" Hurt... I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they get in Anthony Hopkins, or perhaps dig up and animatronically reanimate Lawrence Olivier...