The success of HBO’s Game Of Thrones has paved the way for a variety of fantasy-based projects on both the big and small screens, including the recent news that one of the show’s writers will be scripting a movie based on the wildly popular card game Magic: The Gathering.
Deadline reports that Bryan Cogman, a writer, producer, and story editor on Game Of Thrones, will pen the screenplay for a film based on Magic: The Gathering with an eye toward launching a new fantasy franchise. The movie rights to Magic: The Gathering were purchased by 20th Century Fox earlier this year.
Created by Richard Garfield and launched in 1993 by game publisher Wizards Of The Coast, Magic: The Gathering quickly found success in the collectible-card game market, and soon became one of the best-selling games in the industry. In the game, players collect cards that enable them to use various magic spells, creatures, and characters in duels against others. Along with an impressive secondary market that sometimes valued rare cards in the thousands of dollars, a community of professional players has developed, with high-profile tournaments and payouts for winners.
The Magic: The Gathering movie will be produced by Hasbro — which bought Wizards Of The Coast in 1999 — and X-Men: Days Of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg for Fox.
