‘Magic: The Gathering’ Movie Gets ‘Game of Thrones’ Writer to Kick Off Franchise
Well, if they're going to make a movie out of the role playing game 'Magic: The Gathering,' the best possible hope is that they hire the right people for the material. And it looks like they have: 'Game of Thrones' producer, story editor and writer Bryan Cogman has been hired to write the first film in what Fox hopes is the next hot fantasy franchise.
That's the word from Deadline, where they point out that Cogman will be working with Fox and producer Simon Kinberg to develop the first film in what's hoped to be a big property for the studio. In this case, we feel the same as we do about so many franchises based on preexisting material with no narrative built in: on one hand there's a lot of freedom as they can tell any story they want, on the other the franchise cart is obviously being put before the "tell a good/interesting story" horse, which has led to films like 'Battleship,' 'Need for Speed' and the 2000 'Dungeons & Dragons' movie.
But hiring Cogman shows that perhaps Hollywood learned a lesson from 'The LEGO Movie,' in that there is a good way to adapt these sorts of properties, and that usually starts with hiring the right people to craft them. On top of which, other that the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' movies, there haven't been a lot of super expensive sword and sorcery movies, and this could be a chance for Cogman to do everything he ever wanted to do on 'Game of Thrones' but couldn't because of the budget. As they just hired a writer, we wouldn't expect to see the first 'Magic: The Gathering' movie before 2016.