The man behind the upcoming ‘Fantastic Four‘ reboot, Simon Kinberg is being enlisted to bring another pop culture property to the big screen — ‘Magic: The Gathering’. Fox is hoping to turn the popular card game into the next ‘Lord of the Rings’ and Kinberg will serve as the franchise’s supreme sorcerer to develop a series of movies based on the game.
‘Magic: The Gathering’ debuted in 1993 and was created by the company Wizards of the Coast and became a sensation as collectible card games became all the rage. The game follows the ‘Dungeons And Dragons’ fantasy theme and involves wizards, magical creatures, spells and weapons that players use to combat one another. Certain cards are rarer than others and become highly collectible. The phenomenon is so large that tournaments are held at conventions around the world.
Hasbro acquired the rights to ‘Magic: The Gathering’ along with ‘Pokemon’ and a card game based on ‘Star Wars’ in 1999. The toy company has struck box office gold with its ‘Transformers’ franchise and has done… m’kay with ‘GI Joe’. ‘Battleship’ tanked, however, and ‘Stretch Armstrong’ is now off, so Hasbro’s grand plans to bring every one of their properties to the big screen may have to dial it back a notch. (Seriously, there’s already a BRILLIANT movie based on ‘Clue’. We don’t need another.)
Honestly… I’m sure people still play ‘Magic: The Gathering’ but it’s certainly not the sensation it once was. But with ‘The Hobbit’ wrapping up this Christmas, that does leave a fantasy gap in pop culture films. Is ‘Magic’ the right choice to fill the void?
What do you think? Are you a ‘Magic’ player? Do you think the property is deserving of a movie franchise?
Source: THR
