“Magic: The Gathering,” the trading card game played in basements around the globe since 1993, is set for major film and TV adaptations from Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment.
The toy maker and the Hollywood mini-major behind the “Godzilla” and “Dune” franchises will create “a live-action feature film and television universe” based on the fantasy series, with an inaugural feature film first on deck. Hasbro estimates the strategy tournament represents a $1 billion piece of intellectual property, thanks to over 50 million players engaging with its fantastic worlds.
“We pride ourselves on being thoughtful caretakers of singular, beloved IP, and no property better fits that description than ‘Magic The Gathering,'” said Mary Parent, Legendary’s head of worldwide production. “Alongside the fantastic Hasbro team, we look forward to creating a multimedia universe that thrills longstanding fans and creates a broad wave of new ones.”
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Zev Foreman, Hasbro head of film, added that the planned content slate was an “exciting and complementary partnership, uniting one of the world’s most iconic brands with a powerful and proven steward.”
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Legendary has a proven track record in this space. Including its work with the so-called “monsterverse” of Godzilla and King Kong, the company has also launched content around Pokémon (“Detective Pikachu”), Minecraft and the “Enola Holmes” franchise. Upcoming projects include an anticipated take on the world of classic video game “Street Fighter” and a live action-animation hybrid film “Animal Friends” starring Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy.
At Hasbro, development properties include the Sony TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Television adaptations of the iconic board game “Clue”; a film based on Monopoly from Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and a “Magic: The Gathering” animated series already in the works at Netflix.
