# Magic: The Gathering Movie Announced **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751 "2014-01-14T02:48:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/1 "2014-01-14T02:48:48Z")
Info [here](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/fox-bring-magic-gathering-big-670529). I had a feeling this was coming. Wizards of the Coast has been trying to flesh out their characters for a few years now and Hollywood is looking for Fantasy franchises. There are several MTG settings I would like to see on screen so this could be good. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/2 "2014-01-14T02:53:15Z")
Huh. Well, they made movies out of Battleship! and Rock-em/Sock-em Robots, so okay. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/3 "2014-01-14T04:45:10Z")
I’ve played the game, but I’m having a hard time seeing how it’s going to translate into a decent movie. Still, I watched and survived the Green Lantern movie, so I could probably endure this one… ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/4 "2014-01-14T04:46:23Z")
Technically, haven’t they merely purchased the rights to make a film? Isn’t it possible that this sits in development for years? As an aside, it’s kind of odd that they show a picture of Mirage and Alliances on that site. They’re about 18 years out of print at this point. (Some day I shall live the dream of doing an all-Alliances draft with that booster box in the back of the closet …) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/5 "2014-01-14T05:11:26Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Wizards of the Coast has been trying to flesh out their characters for a few years now [I question the use of ‘trying’ and ‘a few years’.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels) 77 books over the course of 20 years. Not including the multiple comic book series. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/6 "2014-01-14T15:57:50Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve played the game, but I’m having a hard time seeing how it’s going to translate into a decent movie. Nobody ever said anything about them making a _decent_ movie. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/7 "2014-01-14T18:18:21Z")
I’m tapping two islands in response . . . ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/8 "2014-01-14T18:23:59Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > [I question the use of ‘trying’ and ‘a few years’.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels) > > 77 books over the course of 20 years. Not including the multiple comic book series. I remember reading the very first book, way back in '94. I’m about seventy six books behind in the series - have they gotten any better? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/9 "2014-01-14T18:33:20Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I’ve played the game, but I’m having a hard time seeing how it’s going to translate into a decent movie. You don’t translate the game, you translate the backstory used to flesh out the game. For example, take [Niv-Mizzet](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=292738). In the game, he’s pretty simple: a dragon that lets you draw more cards and do more damage. In the books and flavour text, he’s an incredibly vain, ten thousand year old mad scientist who is one of the effective founders of the city of Ravnica, leads a guild of mad scientist wizards and is also in charge of the utilities. This could be really, really cool. A movie could be limited in scope to the conflicts of a particular plane (like the technoorganic world of Mirrodin or the gothic world of Innistrad) or it could follow a group of Planeswalkers - the individuals who can safely travel between planes. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/10 "2014-01-14T18:35:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I remember reading the very first book, way back in '94. I’m about seventy six books behind in the series - have they gotten any better? Some are good, some are poor. The Kamigawa and original Ravnica trilogies are the most highly praised, I believe. And the planar conceit means that it’s easy to get into the block books without the previous 50 being required backstory. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/11 "2014-01-14T19:45:48Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > [I question the use of ‘trying’ and ‘a few years’.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels) > > 77 books over the course of 20 years. Not including the multiple comic book series. But in the last 5 or so years they created stable of Planeswalkers who are meant to be archetype characters you see again and again on different worlds. Every card set (after the first few) has had a story but it is really only the last few years where they have tried to emphasize the story and characters more with a goal towards making the audience connect with them. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/12 "2014-01-14T19:48:30Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > A movie could be limited in scope to the conflicts of a particular plane (like the technoorganic world of Mirrodin or the gothic world of Innistrad) or it could follow a group of Planeswalkers - the individuals who can safely travel between planes. Or maybe the movie will follow a group of gamers as they travel the country every weekend going tournament to tournament dueling for fame and fortune! Nevermind. That sounds boring, dull, and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/13 "2014-01-14T19:57:15Z")
That’s old school, **Gedd**. Nowadays you generally need to tap three islands. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/14 "2014-01-14T21:49:53Z")
Three? When I played you could do that much damage instantly, for only one Red! (Yeah, it’s been several years since I’ve played and at least a decade since I’ve bought any cards. Now get off my plane!) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/15 "2014-01-14T22:06:52Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Or maybe the movie will follow a group of gamers as they travel the country every weekend going tournament to tournament dueling for fame and fortune! > > Nevermind. That sounds boring, dull, and depressing. Sounds like someone hasn’t watched [Magic: The Gathering The Musical](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmIPqgMD8us)! ---
**Author:** ![Vercingetorix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/848f3c/32.png) [@Vercingetorix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vercingetorix)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/16 "2014-01-14T23:28:49Z")
I’ve long thought that the Weatherlight Saga would be good source material for a movie. It has a pretty standard Hero’s-Journey-style plot, the opportunity for some good action set-pieces, an exotic aesthetic that’s not just a carbon-copy of Tolkien-esque elves and dwarves, and an ending that is both conclusive enough to end a movie but open-ended enough to expand into a franchise. It wouldn’t be Citizen Kane (or even Lord of the Rings), but it would be an enjoyable popcorn flick if done well. There’s about a 0% chance of that being the plot they choose, though. It wouldn’t make sense to try to cash-in on a property now using a plot-line that ended in 2001(?). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/17 "2014-01-15T00:27:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I remember reading the very first book, way back in '94. I’m about seventy six books behind in the series - have they gotten any better? Yes, yes they have. I can’t speak for the other non-cycle novels (Arena put me off, it was the first Ice Age novel that prompted me to peek back in), but the ‘…of Magic’ anthologies and Cycle novels I’ve read were miles beyond Arena - average to better-than-average licensed books. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/18 "2014-01-15T14:51:57Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > Sounds like someone hasn’t watched [Magic: The Gathering The Musical](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmIPqgMD8us)! Umm . . . Huh. Anyway. I see this movie as an opportunity for a drinking game. Every time a character says a card name you take a drink. Three if it’s from \*Unglued \*or _Unhinged_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/19 "2014-01-15T15:20:37Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > … and is also in charge of the utilities. So he’s some sort of mad scientist dragon plumber? I would totally go see that. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751/20 "2014-01-15T15:46:28Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > So he’s some sort of mad scientist dragon plumber? More or less. If you like that, you’ll probably like the Azorius too: the Ravnican legislative branch, [complete with filibuster counters](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=265418). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-the-gathering-movie-announced/678751.md?page=2)