Ultramarines the Movie

[andrewgpaul]

I'm wondering if the better 40K fiction comes about when the author get to basically make shit up. Abnett invented the Tanith 1st and Only, as well as the campaign they're involved in, out of nothing, and basically redefined the feel of the Imperial Guard singlehandedly. Bill King wrote the original background for the Space Wolves in the early 90s, before he wrote the novels, and Sandy Mitchell kept Cain well away from anything else going on in the 40K galaxy.

On the other hand, Ben Counter got to make the Soul Drinkers up himself, so perhaps that's not such a well thought out idea.

[Rye]

If I were running with this, I'd just do something like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down or Band of Brothers only in the grim dark future. Start off with an epic battle and storming some speartip like the Normandy beaches, then various battle-brothers have to find each other behind enemy lines and turf out a Chaos plot to bring something evil from the warp. Have some betrayals and a shitload of war and the occasional daemon or alien (or preferably both), and that could make a decent 70 minute script, easily.

[white_rabbit]

The new Dark Heresy book admittedly dragged a little too, and got a little disjointed with the multiple teams of Acolytes, plus I'm innately against the Tau-love that oozes every time their shit comes on screen, but it was a lot more interesting than the last Cain book, and I'm really looking forward to the third now given the ending.

THIRD Dark Heresy book? When was the second one released?!

In Gods Own Country, we get stuff a month before the rest of the world

Got Blood Pact as well actually.

[Shroom Man 777]

Shit. Can someone clear up for me exactly HOW MANY of Sandy Mitchell's Dark Heresy novels I've missed? Because all I've got is Scourge the Heretic.


andrewpaul: Yeah, I kind of think that the genuinely good works are made by people who are genuinely creative and imaginative, and who make things that aren't just by-the-books 40k laemo with "rar space marine punches daemon, chaos ruins puny mortals' shit, hurrr!" but who take things that are in 40k (say, dickish commissars) and put an interesting spin on them (say, by making said commissar even more dickish to the point of absurdity and hilarity).

40k is awesome for its grimdark and its obscenities. Just like how Star Wars is awesome for its swashbuckling space opera fun with Han, Luke and Leia. But Star Wars EU would be shit if all it had was swashbuckling space opera fun with Han, Luke and Leia until they got old and ran away from Stormtroopers while riding wheelchairs or using walkers or something. Or if all it had were stories talking about people with surnames like 'Solo' and 'Skywalker' and 'Organoid' or something. Likewise, if all 40k had was grimdark and obscenities and nothing more, it would be LAEM.

[andrewgpaul]

Looking at the Black Library website, there's only Scourge the Heretic and Innocence Proves Nothing. The latter appears to have got an early release (white_rabbit, did you get it at Games Day?). I think white_rabbit is saying he's anticipating the third book given the end of the second, not that it's actually imminent.

[Shroom Man 777]

Shit. I did not comprehend. I am dumb.

[white_rabbit]

If you preorder direct from the BL site in the UK, they give you the releases a month ahead of schedule.

So Blood Pact etc comes out in about a month.

I normally go to Gamesday and stock up on the next few months , but I'm A: fed up of the constantly raised ticket price, and the fact its been getting lamer over the years B: Fed up of blitzing through all the books nigh on immediately, and not having a new 40k/fantasy fix for the next five months.

Shit. I did not comprehend. I am dumb.

I forgive you my son.

[Juubi Karakuchi]

I have Blood Pact already. I got it at Games Day, along with the 'Thunder from Fenris' audio CD.

[Tritio]

Update!

ULTRAMARINES: Codex Pictures Announce Director and Writer!

Codex Pictures revealed today the director and screenwriter for the forthcoming Warhammer 40,000 movie ULTRAMARINES.

The director is Martyn Pick, whose credits include the 2009 film The Age of Stupid, on which he was animation director; London 2012, the promotional film commissioned by Film London and the London Development Agency which was premiered at the Beijing Olympics; the 2001 US Budweiser NBA commercial; and the celebrated BBC promotional trailers for the Euro 2004 soccer tournament. Martyn was chosen to direct Ultramarines for his renowned and highly distinctive ability to fuse live action and animation and the fluid, rich painterly style of his film-making.

The screenplay has been written by someone who needs no introduction to Warhammer 40,000 fans – best-selling author Dan Abnett. Dan has penned more than 25 books for Games Workshop’s Black Library, with total sales in excess of 1.2 million copies. He also works regularly for 2000 AD, Marvel Comics and DC Comics and has recently seen publication of the first of three novels for HarperCollins' new sci-fi, fantasy and horror imprint, Angry Robot.

ULTRAMARINES, a sci-fi thriller employing CGI and state-of-the-art production techniques, is being produced by Codex Pictures in association with Good Story Productions Ltd. The Canadian co-producer is POP6 Studios.

Keep up with news of the film at http://ultramarinesthemovie.com

More information (a video):

Dan Abnett on writing the ULTRAMARINES movie screenplay

I don't know much about Abnett (so far I haven't started reading WH40k fiction although I'm keen to start. So is this good? How about Pick?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Never heard of this Pick guy, but they're certainly not setting themselves up for failure (as I would normally expect from things like this) with Abnett writing. I don't think he's the best Space Marine writer, but he's easily the most prolific 40k author for good reason. Even if his "40kness" is sometimes a little off (which, it should be noted, has rarely been an issue in his most recent works), he's an excellent writer on his own merits. I don't know how well those skills might translate to writing for the screen, but at least they aren't picking some schmuck so they can wonder afterward why the movie failed.

[Lonestar]

Never heard of this Pick guy, but they're certainly not setting themselves up for failure (as I would normally expect from things like this) with Abnett writing. I don't think he's the best Space Marine writer, but he's easily the most prolific 40k author for good reason. Even if his "40kness" is sometimes a little off (which, it should be noted, has rarely been an issue in his most recent works), he's an excellent writer on his own merits. I don't know how well those skills might translate to writing for the screen, but at least they aren't picking some schmuck so they can wonder afterward why the movie failed.

Abnett is a big time comic book writer as well, so he has experience in writing script-like works.

[Bilbo]

While I am no 40K expert I cannot imagine a movie like this working. To make the 40k fans happy it will have to be grimdark, but the average person who might see the movie is not going to want to see a movie like that, especially considering how dark it would have to be to be true to the series.

So no matter what you do there will be unhappy poeple.

You can create your more typical action movie, but then the hardcore fans will be screaming that you have betrayed what the core idea of 40K is. Or you can pander to those fans and create a nitch movie that will probably not make enough money to cover its likely to be heavy special effects laden budget.

[Black Admiral]

Why are you equating "40K fan" with "thinks going over board with the Grim!Dark is a good thing"? The tendency towards increasing Grim!Dark is precisely why I, for one, don't like a lot of the more recent canon (and prefer Abnett's work).

[Bilbo]

Why are you equating "40K fan" with "thinks going over board with the Grim!Dark is a good thing"? The tendency towards increasing Grim!Dark is precisely why I, for one, don't like a lot of the more recent canon (and prefer Abnett's work).

Are you in the majority or the minority? If they are adding more and more its for two reasons.

1. That is what most of the fans want.

2. Grimdark is the concept in 40K and to continue the concept things have to get worse and worse. I thought Grimdark was the sci-fi equivalent to gothic horror or Lovcraftian horror, you may win small battles but its a given in the end that evil will win. Every step forward is at a huge cost a sacrifice.

Would it still be grimdark if there was an actual happy ending?

[Shroom Man 777]

Most of the fans would be very happy if the movie ended up with the SPESS MARINES butchering all the orks/chaos guys and kicking ass. Not really un-grimdark or anything, and it's perfectly acceptable.

[stormthebeaches]

I personally think it is a bad idea to make the film about the Astrates. They have very little room for character development. Personally, I think it would be better to follow some Guardsmen and have the Astrates make a cameo apperance towards the end.

[Lord Revan]

tbh I'm sure there's loads of difference in character between some battlebrother who just earned the right to wear his powerarmor (or emperor forbid a scout trooper) and a hardned veteran. so there's a lot more room for character deveplopment then you seem to assume.

as for the grimdark thing you could always go "we won the battle but the war is far from over" route for the ending.

[Grif]

Which company you think they will show? Or would it be just a general overview of the Ultramarines?

Honestly I hope they lay off the grimdark, I like happy, heroic ending (W40k style).

Speaking of which, may I ask are Graham McNeil's Ultramarines books any good? I'm planning to get the Omnibus as well as the fourth novel. (Can't remember the name at the moment).

[Bob the Gunslinger]

The first two books are good, and the fourth one has some good parts in it, but Dead Sky Black Sun is pretty crappy all around.

[Serafina]

I personally think it is a bad idea to make the film about the Astrates. They have very little room for character development. Personally, I think it would be better to follow some Guardsmen and have the Astrates make a cameo apperance towards the end.

Read the books (especially the Space Wolf Omnibus). You can fit a lot of character development and distinctive personalities into a Space Marine.

[Connor MacLeod]

Having Abnett be the writer is probalby a mixed blessing. He's a good writer, but the "300" shit from Brothers of the Snake was grating, and I am virtually certain this will turn out as a "big dumb action movie" and thus the potential for more of the same. Then again, an action movie also means plot or lack of plot via choosing Space Marines should be irrelevant, and Abnett probably can be relied upon not to fuck things up horribly.

[Darth Fanboy]

Why rule out a chaos victory for the film? Maybe its a harrowing tale of survival for Space Marines to escape the formation of A Daemonworld and all around armies representing the four gods are going toe to toe with each other as well as the Space Marines and in the end its all they can do to get off the planet as blood spills from the skies onto fields of corpses and skulls!

All this happens during a massive three way battle between Space Marines, Tau, and Orks, oh and then a Necron Monolith just shows up outta fucking nowhere. Eldar show up and provide a little help but just killed for their efforts my Marines. And in the very last scene of the movie, just as a giant bloody eyeball with teeth around the eyelids forms on the planet's northern hemisphere, a Tyranid fleet shows up.

Boss.

[Ryan Thunder]

The screenplay has been written by someone who needs no introduction to Warhammer 40,000 fans – best-selling author Dan Abnett.

Dan Abnett.

This is the man who writes entire goddamn novels in the present tense. We're so fucked. So fucking fucked.

[Shroom Man 777]

The screenplay has been written by someone who needs no introduction to Warhammer 40,000 fans – best-selling author Dan Abnett.

Dan Abnett.

This is the man who writes entire goddamn novels in the present tense. We're so fucked. So fucking fucked.

So the tense of his writing, and not the fact that he has written one of the "classic" 40k works (Eisenhorn) and a definitive ongoing series (Gaunt), determines the fate of the movie?

[Lupercal]

"Battle of Macragge: The Movie" would be awesome.