Why has Hollywood never embraced 40k

[Deadlift]

Yes we had that Ultramarines movie, and the very awesome looking Inquisitor coming, but I am talking BIG BUDGET Hollywood style movie.

The background of 40k is easily as rich as any other sci-fi based IP. There is just so much lore and fluff to draw upon. Why has Hollywood ignored this huge potential for making money. Surely a movie would appeal to non players too. A 40k blockbuster style film with a decent director would be great. As long as they avoided too much of the deeper fluff then it could appeal to anyone with an itch for action/sci fi movies. I mean big budget too, Micheal Bay style stuff.

I hear Peter Jackson plays 40k and is a big fan, and we know its not just a kids game. So why hasent it been done (properly) yet ? And will it ever ?

[Learn2Eel]

The trouble would be marketing it to a large audience, which is what Hollywood feeds on. WH40K is the epitome of 'grimdark' - i.e. violent, gory, excessive, etc.
Telling a compelling story would also be an issue, the majority of cinema-goers would have either no or very little idea about any of the forces/ideas/themes discussed in the movie. Whilst any movie can have a good story, it needs to be marketable, and unfortunately a movie that if done right will either be MA 15+ or R 18+ (Australian age ratings) probably wouldn't attract anywhere near the same interest as a PG or M +15 movie.
It would also be difficult for them to do a story that hasn't essentially already been done. If they ever did a movie of the scale, it would almost inevitably involve Space Marines, Orks and a subplot of corruption via Chaos.

By the way, did you ever see that really old WH40K movie? I forget the name, I think it was called Inquisitor or something similar as well. I saw a few scenes and immediately understood why GW never talk about it. Lol, it is that bad. Seriously, there's like twenty different shots of the same ship coming out of warp-space at the start of the movie. It's so bad it is quite hilarious.

[gcsmith]

The trouble would be marketing it to a large audience, which is what Hollywood feeds on. WH40K is the epitome of 'grimdark' - i.e. violent, gory, excessive, etc.
Telling a compelling story would also be an issue, the majority of cinema-goers would have either no or very little idea about any of the forces/ideas/themes discussed in the movie. Whilst any movie can have a good story, it needs to be marketable, and unfortunately a movie that if done right will either be MA 15+ or R 18+ (Australian age ratings) probably wouldn't attract anywhere near the same interest as a PG or M +15 movie.
It would also be difficult for them to do a story that hasn't essentially already been done. If they ever did a movie of the scale, it would almost inevitably involve Space Marines, Orks and a subplot of corruption via Chaos.

By the way, did you ever see that really old WH40K movie? I forget the name, I think it was called Inquisitor or something similar as well. I saw a few scenes and immediately understood why GW never talk about it. Lol, it is that bad. Seriously, there's like twenty different shots of the same ship coming out of warp-space at the start of the movie. It's so bad it is quite hilarious.

The bad one is Ultramarine. Secondly there are a lot of interesting films. Heck they could pick up the horus heresy. Get a nice series of stories and can introduce people to the universe.

[Psychosplodge]

Yes we had that Ultramarines movie, and the very awesome looking Inquisitor coming, but I am talking BIG BUDGET Hollywood style movie.

The background of 40k is easily as rich as any other sci-fi based IP. There is just so much lore and fluff to draw upon. Why has Hollywood ignored this huge potential for making money. Surely a movie would appeal to non players too. A 40k blockbuster style film with a decent director would be great. As long as they avoided too much of the deeper fluff then it could appeal to anyone with an itch for action/sci fi movies. I mean big budget too, Micheal Bay style stuff.

I hear Peter Jackson plays 40k and is a big fan, and we know its not just a kids game. So why hasent it been done (properly) yet ? And will it ever ?

Well when you look at (was it bay) they did to the transformers there's your problem, GW are very possessive of their IP, and hollywood would want to do too much of their own thing. Why bother when they can just make there own and do what they want?
I still think an animated (not cgi) would offer the best option for a film. but then you have to find a good story/subject to set it apart....

[daboarder]

mostly its the back story, to indepth to go into int the space of a single movie.

They have however unashamedly ripped parts out of 40k wholesale for years.

everything from event horizon to starshiptroopers

[Learn2Eel]

The bad one is Ultramarine. Secondly there are a lot of interesting films. Heck they could pick up the horus heresy. Get a nice series of stories and can introduce people to the universe.

I didn't really watch that old movie, I just saw the first couple of scenes and stopped watching it because my insides were hurting from all the laughter. I'm sorry, if a 40K movie is making me laugh that much at the terrible editing, acting and size proportion issues then there is something really wrong. It may have turned out to be a good film, mind you, but I don't think I could watch it after that. How is a human Inquisitor the size of a Space Marine. Argh I'm struggling to stop laughing again lol.

I didn't mind Ultramarine, it wasn't that good but it was ok to watch. Rampant silliness though.
They could definitely do a lot of great stories, the problem is making one that would appeal to a wide audience whilst doing justice to the franchise, something GW would definitely be insistent on.

[Wolfshade]

I imagine if they did one, it would be easier for the audience to access if it was through imperial guard sort of thing, I think any of the gaunt's ghosts would make fantastic films.

[Learn2Eel]

I imagine if they did one, it would be easier for the audience to access if it was through imperial guard sort of thing, I think any of the gaunt's ghosts would make fantastic films.

Agreed, a Space Marine perspective would probably be a bit too alien (ironically). Imperial Guardsmen are at least rank and file, have proper lives (as much as you can really get for humans in 40K I guess) and aren't superhuman warrior monks with lots of very unique and non-human traits. It would be much easier for the audience to relate to a unit of Imperial Guardsmen fighting in a war for survival than observing the events of a tactical squad.

Though it is a video game, Space Marine did this quite well I thought. Whilst the story was hardly spectacular (aforementioned subplot of Chaos behind alien invasion), the characters were done about how I would expect and they didn't go too far into the background of the Space Marines themselves. It was mostly just focused on the events of the battle itself.

[DarkLink]

Peter Jackson might play it, but most people don't have the slightest clue what 40k is. If they couldn't get the Halo movie off the ground, how would they ever get Dawn of War approved? In Hollywood, movies get made into crappy video games, not the other way around.

[Mr Mystery]

Rumour/legend has it that GW have been approached multiple times. The problem seems to be GW not wanting to license off any marketing type rights.