Over recent years, many Magic: The Gathering players have felt that Magic’s core intellectual property has been somewhat neglected. While Wizards are still making in-universe sets, there’s clearly been a push for Universes Beyond sets and Secret Lair drops. Thankfully, it now seems Wizards isn’t giving up on its own IP anytime soon, far from it, in fact.
Today, an announcement was made that delivers on the hopes and dreams of many fans. Not only is Magic: The Gathering slated to get a live-action movie, but an entire cinematic universe is planned to follow it.
Magic Lore Hits the Big Screen
Announced via the Command Zone, Hasbro Entertainment and Legendary Entertainment are teaming up to create an MTG live-action movie.
Legendary Entertainment is responsible for some of the best fantasy movies in recent years. The Godzilla movies and the award-winning Dune adaptations were made by this studio. Many players cannot think of a more ideal partnership to bring the mysticism of Magic’s universe to the big screen.
While things start with a live-action movie, according to The Command Zone, that is just the beginning. A Feature film will lead the charge, “and then a television series and other content [is] to be developed as the universe expands.”
This suggests that we could see a series of Magic shows that mirror something similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This would certainly bolster Magic’s brand, bringing it in line with all of the Universes Beyond crossover that it is doing with other franchises.
What About the Animated Series Announcement?
Not long ago, another MTG show announcement was made. This one promised an animated Netflix series about Magic’s most iconic characters. Interestingly, these two projects are apparently entirely different ones. This was confirmed by Jimmy Wong, a member of The Command Zone, on Twitter shortly after the announcement was made.
No Script Yet
As stated by Jimmy and Josh during the announcement, this announcement simply suggests that a partnership between Hasbro Entertainment and Legendary Entertainment has been made, and what that partnership is trying to accomplish. This means that the actual movie being announced is likely years away from hitting the big screen. We don’t have a trailer or any idea what part of the Magic Multiverse the film will be based around.
Magic hasn’t exactly had a great track record on the big screen historically, either. Movies and animated series have been repetitively announced and canceled in recent years, which certainly has many players questioning whether or not this movie will actually come to fruition.
Ultimately, if this cinematic universe goes as planned, it could mean restoring the previous balance between the MTG IP and the Universes Beyond one. This will undeniably strengthen and solidify Magic’s characters and worldbuilding heavily into pop culture.
As far as announcements go, we’re off to a really good start. Only the future knows how this partnership between Hasbro and Legendary Entertainment is going to end, but many players will be watching with bated breath.