Amazon Signs Deal With Games Workshop for Warhammer 40k Films

Games Workshop Group Plc will work with Amazon.com Inc. to develop film and television productions, with initial work focusing on the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Amazon signs deal with Games Workshop for Warhammer 40k films. (Bloomberg)

Games Workshop Group Plc will work with Amazon.com Inc. to develop film and television productions, with initial work focusing on the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Warhammer 40,000, or 40k as it's known by fans, is a sci-fi universe set in humanity's ‘grimdark' future. It focuses on themes of conflict, galaxy-spanning empire, and fanatic religiosity. The Games Workshop franchise already includes popular tabletop games, over 300 novels, and has licensed its content for several successful video games.

The announcement Friday was “very exciting news for Games Workshop,” said Andrew Wade, an analyst at Jefferies in a research note, noting that licensing income has built strongly in recent years. “A mainstream TV/film product could be game-changing in terms of Warhammer's brand reach and awareness.”

Shares in Games Workshop rose 11% in early trading on Friday, the most in almost nine months. The stock — a pandemic market darling as lockdowns boosted demand for home-based hobbies — had previously fell about a quarter year-to-date.

Amazon is gearing up to spend more than $1 billion a year to produce movies that it will release in theaters, following the $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, a 98-year-old Hollywood studio that released Ben-Hur and Legally Blonde. 

The ex-superman actor Henry Cavill is likely to star and executive produce a series adaption of Warhammer 40k, a franchise he's made no secret of his love for, according to a report the Hollywood Reporter Thursday.

While Amazon and Games Workshop have reached an agreement on material commercial terms, the project has yet to be finalized, according to a statement. Games workshop made no change to its forecast for the period ended May 2023.