Amazon to make Warhammer 40,000 shows and movies

The maker of Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop, has finalised a deal with Amazon to bring the characters and stories to the big screen.

The British actor Henry Cavill - best known for playing Superman - will be an executive producer and has signed up to appear in the project.

Warhammer simulates battles between armies of miniature painted models.

The deal gives Amazon the rights to hire talent, and to make film and TV projects.

"Now comes the fun part: working out all the creative details with our partners and getting the first script written and into production. What Warhammer 40,000 stories should we tell first? Should we kick off with a movie or a TV show? Both?!" Games Workshop said in statement.

Games Workshop has enjoyed continued success after the pandemic, which saw sales of its toy figurines surge. Shares in the company rose after the deal was confirmed.

The announcement comes a year after the Nottingham-based company first said it was in talks to team up with Amazon's Prime Video service, also known for the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, based on the fantasy novels of JRR Tolkien.

A team of screenwriters is currently being put together to bring the Warhammer universe to the screen, the company said on its community website.

The first Games Workshop store opened in Hammersmith in 1978 and began producing miniature wargaming models.

Over the decades Games Workshop has cultivated a fanbase of millions.

Collectors build large forces of miniature plastic gaming models, which can cost more than £100 each.

A miniature can be made up of hundreds of pieces which must be fitted together and then painted with colours such as "flesh" and "bone".

This can be used to play out clashes on a "tabletop" battlefield at home or at events, although some fans never play and instead compete to show off their creative versions of the models.

Millions of people around the world play Warhammer, and the worldwide "tabletop" games sector that the fantasy game is part of is worth around £8.6bn, according to the consumer data firm Statista, with new entrants able to raise funds from enthusiasts through platforms such as Kickstarter.

As well as greenlighting the production of Warhammer 40,000 films and TV series, the deal gives Amazon the option to license the rights to other Warhammer franchises further down the line.

Games Workshop will spend 12 months working with Amazon to agree "creative guidelines" for the films and series.

Production will only proceed once those guidelines are agreed.