Fox plans to make a series to rival the popularity of the Harry Potter and LOTR movies

Jan 14, 2014 07:32 GMT  ·  By

20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to the immensely popular fantasy card game from Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering.

The movie studio intends to make a series of movies based on the fantasy universe, hoping that they will turn out to be as successful as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchises, as Hollywood Reporter informs.

Magic: The Gathering is a fantasy trading card game dating back to 1993, regarded as not only the most popular and influential TCG, but also the best designed.

Its world revolves around the five colors of the magic wheel, each of them with its particular strengths and weaknesses, and players are cast in the role of wizards with complete control over them.

Players most usually duel each other in 1v1 matches, with many other options available, playing deadly creatures and slinging powerful damage and control spells.

One of the main strengths of the game is the variety of game mechanics and ways in which the cards interact with each other, as matches are not always as straightforward as they first seem.

The Magic: The Gathering universe has seen numerous adaptations to date, including books, graphic novels and video games, and Wizards of the Coast even organizes professional international events.

The trading card game has experienced a surge in popularity over the last few years, with more independently organized competitions popping up and many features in popular YouTube shows adding to its fame.

Fox-based writer-producer Simon Kinberg has been assigned to oversee the adaptation, working in concert with Hasbro (Wizards of the Coast's parent company). His previous works include the X-Men and Fantastic Four adaptations.

Considering the prevalence of decent big budget fantasy movies in recent times, there is a considerable chance that the movies will not turn out terrible, and will in fact be a rather enjoyable experience, for planeswalkers and regular folk alike.