20th Century Fox has acquired the rights to Hasbro’s hugely successfully collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, with The Hollywood Reporter revealing that the studio intends on using to “launch a massive franchise on the scale of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
Spearheading the Magic: The Gathering adaptation is producer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg, who is also overseeing the studio’s Marvel universe, consisting of X-Men and The Fantastic Four. Kinberg will work alongside Hasbro to develop the property into a fully fledged fantasy movie universe.
Originally introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast (who were subsequently acquired by Hasbro), Magic: The Gathering was the first trading card game and continues to be the bestselling title over 20 years later with a reported 13 million fans and players around the globe.