I think the simplest way is to have an all new cast to provide exposition and a rough explanation to the concepts of magic without exactly demanding prior knowledge. You don't have to worry about getting the details right, or care much about what story line to use. It doesn't offend fans of characters already established(much). As long as it makes sense to both a novel and familiar moviegoer, I don't mind how they make of it.
It's likely to have Planeswalkers be introduced as wizards (of the coast) or something.
They should make the story about Norin, the Wary... it might take some explaining to the audience about why the movie cuts in and out, but it would be awesome nonetheless.
I have always though that a Brothers War movie would be the best place to start for a Magic based movie. If you are looking at doing a franchise of movies, starting at the beginning and introducing central figures such as Urza and the plane of Phyrexia would be very important.
As long as they cast Scarlett Johansson as Elvish Ranger (this one), then all will be good.
Huh. See, this is pretty much the exact problem they'd have with a oldschool MTG storyline: I've been playing for six years and I didn't know the Yawgmoth thing. People who aren't entirely sure what MTG is will have no chance.
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Huh. See, this is pretty much the exact problem they'd have with a oldschool MTG storyline: I've been playing for six years and I didn't know the Yawgmoth thing. People who aren't entirely sure what MTG is will have no chance.
The movie being about magic's past will make you learn all about this; just like ilovesaprolings post said.
actually, it would make some sense:
- you appeal the old nostalgia fans. you appeal them a lot.
- you help new players by giving them a look of what they have lost. hey, you don't know what is dominaria and who is urza, even if the game talked for like 10 years about them? no problem, just watch the movie.
- you help new players by giving them a look, wait not just a look, THE look of phyrexia. what it is, how it was born, how much it was dangerous and why now is still dangerous for the whole multiverse. a magic movie without phyrexia is like a batman movie without the joker
a "movie based on the last decade of cards" will help selling cards. because newer player will get more interested in those old cards, and wizard could make a lot of money with just reprints. think about: "Brothers' war: the Movie" followed by "Urza VS Mishra Duel Deck"
You go into almost any movie not knowing the plot and you can follow along right? I don't see why people would "have no chance".
It looks officially official that the rights won't just sit there for a decade and a movie will get made.
“MAGIC: THE GATHERING today offers serialized entertainment on a variety of platforms including books, comics and globally popular digital and card games so the property is naturally suited to a series of films based on fantastic fan favorite stories from the past as well as new stories in development,” said Hasbro Studios’ President Stephen Davis. “We look forward to working with the creative team at Twentieth Century Fox, the talented Simon Kinberg and the Genre Films team to bring this franchise to the big screen and we’re confident MAGIC: THE GATHERING fans around the world will be thrilled with what we have in store for them.”
Why do people keep insisting that the movie remain true to the game, as opposed to the storyline? Dungeons and Dragons didn't fail because it failed to connect to the game, it failed because it didn't have a good plot that resonated with the audience, a notable setting, good production values, or skilled actors. Battleship failed because it was a ridiculous movie with a ridiculous plot and ****ty actors. Not because it didn't "hold true to the game."
Also, my last point: how many people went into LOTR (or Thor, or Captain America, or Batman) not reading a single novel (or comic book) and still were blown away by the movie? That's what we all need to realize: if the movie is good enough, then the audience doesn't need to know a single thing about the Magic universe... the movie will convey all the audience needs to know and then some.
Yeah, they will most likely not make a movie featuring oldwalkers, considering the fact that they went to great lengths to make the neowalkers the face of magic. There is barely a product that is not advertised with at least one neowalker. What's the point of making a movie of magic when 70% of the players don't even recognize it as Magic?
the more i think about the "they won't do oldwalkers, they are old" argument, the more it sounds stupid.
let's take the spiderman movie for example: it's like if they didn't start with peter parker getting bitten by the spider and uncle ben's death because that story was too old, current reader are reading different stories because the comics are now far ahead that point, so one could like that old story.
Problem is that if you were to feature oldwalkers and later neowalkers (Which they will feature eventually, because the Neowalkers are the face of Magic, whether you like it or not.) then you'd not only have to explain two different kinds of planeswalkers but also the mending. That's a tad much for kicking off a Magic movie.
well newwalker movie still has problems: you have to show an ascension, except there was almost no relevant ascensions in the newwalkers stories. you'll tell the ascension of jace? we don't know how it happened, and it's probably boring as hell. you'll tell the ascension of ajani? good luck making a good alara movie without explaining who is bolas (in a good way, not just telling "hey look, there's bolas, a giant bad dragon!"). the ascension of sorin? old story, maybe older than the brother's war. the ascension of tybalt? LOL
So we don't know how Jace ascended, so it must be lame? Also, why does the story has to revolve around an established character?
and yeah, the brothers' war directly shaped magic's multiverse as it is, and it's still relevant because phyrexian are still around.
But you don't need to explain the Brother's War to make sense of the multiverse. And you don't need to know the Phyrexian's origin to portray them as the evil faction threatening the multiverse. Does anyone know the details of the origin of the Borg? It could be mentioned where the Phyrexians come from and why Dominaria is a wasteland, but that could be mentioned in passing in one or two sentences and it'd be fine.
Guys you ought to note that it mentioned old fan favorite stories. No stories were more loved in the history of magic than those surrounding Urza, Yawgmoth, and company. I'd also love to see a movie about the Thran specifically as I love that storyline, the rise of Yawgmoth is great.
The Spider-man analogy is not applicable here. First of all, that character is a cultural icon and is well-known by 80% of the world's population. They can make a Spider-man movie and expect it to be a box office success on whatever year/generation/era it comes out, that's how established the character is. I think the best way to analyze/tackle the arguments stated -before this post- is to understand this:
The 3 most important reasons movie companies make movies:
1. Money
2. Cash
3. Dollars/Euros/and other Money Signs
They don't care about our precious history or any stuff occurring in our beloved multiverse. They just want to see if they can milk it for something. It is harsh but it is the truth
So having said that:
Point 1: Having a base audience is still a very important factor in making films. I think they'll try to figure out which is more popular to the current fan base. New walkers would beat old walkers any time of the day in terms of popularity. There's a possibility that they might not use a planeswalker at all, but I doubt that ever happen because Planeswalkers are the centerpiece of our lore.
Point 2: I don't think that they'll go all out and present us an epic MTG trilogy without establishing any identity in the movies first. It is more likely that they'll play it safe and do a very simple movie that is related to MTG -just like what the Blade movies did for Marvel- and decide from there.
Final thoughts: I don't think MTG is that popular enough and any extravagant/fantastic ideas (especially by us the core fans) should be watered-down a little bit for now so that we won't be disappointed if the movie ever comes out.
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What's one of the most popular fantasy franchises right now? Game of Thrones. What Magic novel features Houses at war? Arena. What's Wizards going to want to advertise? Planeswalkers.
The shell of Arena, revenge with a backdrop of Houses at war, blended with Jace's moral quandry from Agents of Artifice seems like a good way to go. To get the audience to empathize with Jace, we'd need to see that the Houses he's going to war against are worse than he is. At the same time, the filmmakers need to emphasize the brutality behind Jace's mind magic. Then, seeing Jace's competence, Tezzeret can induct him into the Consortium. From here, Jace can be sent on missions to Zendikar, Alara, or wherever.
I fully expect to see other printed planeswalkers in supporting roles that're developed throughout the film series.
you really want fox to invent a character? there is already enough retcon in mtg stories even without fox's help. also if the movie doesn't have to use a current and popular character, then using the old ones is way better than inventing something new
It's not about what I want. It's about what is most likely going to happen.
They will do it based around the neowalkers, enough there are still several options as to which they will do. Chandra could be a good character(she had an ascension that could work in a movie), but isn't really part of any main storylines that would work in a movie(just zendikar)
The way I see it, there are a few main storylines that take place across the planes going on with the neowalkers.
Alara(don't need to explain that Bolas needs the power to recover from the mending, just that the maelstoom would create it and he wants it)
Zendikar and the various characters trying to find solutions(Kiora, Gideon)
New Phyrexia/fall of Mirrodin
Tezzeret/Jace/Consortium
I hope they DON'T do Alara, the budget for the first movie would not be enough for the special effects needed to have Ajani as a good main character.
Zendikar won't happen because there is backstory needed, there is no conclusion(other than Eldrazi unleashed to destroy everything). If Zendikar gets resolved by the time they make the movie, then there would be WAY to much backstory. (The Eldrazi and whatever stops them, which will be another full block).
Jace, Tezzeret, and the Consortium seems like it would have the least amount of necessary backstory, while providing a lead-in to a lot of other things of the movie is a success.
The Urza/Yawgmoth Saga was EPIC, this is a fact. It spanned a good half dozen or so books, and countless magic sets. Also, The Brother's War would be the easiest to film by far. It's set primarily in the desert, had 0 magic spells be cast except at the very end, establishes the beginnings for everything that happens, Great literary source material, Old school fans would love it. Newer players and people can follow the story easily ( two brothers take separate paths towards a goal, 1 gets corrupted by evil.) and has an EPIC final battle which is important in fantasy movies. LoTR would be nothing without Helm's Deep or any other battle. For those who have not read the book, I recommend it.
At this point, we're just going to put a nail in this thread. Nothing else constructive is going to come; it's just cynical *****ing and oldwalker vs. newwalker debates. We can start it back up when we have something more concrete that "Hai guyz Fox is making a movie!".
It's likely to have Planeswalkers be introduced as wizards (of the coast) or something.
I have always though that a Brothers War movie would be the best place to start for a Magic based movie. If you are looking at doing a franchise of movies, starting at the beginning and introducing central figures such as Urza and the plane of Phyrexia would be very important.
As long as they cast Scarlett Johansson as Elvish Ranger (this one), then all will be good.
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Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
Art is life itself.
The movie being about magic's past will make you learn all about this; just like ilovesaprolings post said.
You go into almost any movie not knowing the plot and you can follow along right? I don't see why people would "have no chance".
It looks officially official that the rights won't just sit there for a decade and a movie will get made.
“MAGIC: THE GATHERING today offers serialized entertainment on a variety of platforms including books, comics and globally popular digital and card games so the property is naturally suited to a series of films based on fantastic fan favorite stories from the past as well as new stories in development,” said Hasbro Studios’ President Stephen Davis. “We look forward to working with the creative team at Twentieth Century Fox, the talented Simon Kinberg and the Genre Films team to bring this franchise to the big screen and we’re confident MAGIC: THE GATHERING fans around the world will be thrilled with what we have in store for them.”
http://company.wizards.com/content/twentieth-century-fox-and-hasbro-develop-magic-gathering-new-film-franchise
B Lover Since '09 ~
Standard:
meh.
Modern:
Urzatron GR
Vintage:
Contol-Slaver UBR
EDH:
Drana B
Jhoira UR
Savra BG
Turned into:
Adun Oakenshield BGR
Sharuum BUW
Turned into:
Memnarch U
KiKi-Jiki R
Turned into:
Godo R
Turned into:
Aurelia RW
The Mimeoplasm UBG
Rasputin Dreamweaver UW
Turned into:
Geist of Saint Traft -French 1v1 UW
Nekusar UBR
Also, my last point: how many people went into LOTR (or Thor, or Captain America, or Batman) not reading a single novel (or comic book) and still were blown away by the movie? That's what we all need to realize: if the movie is good enough, then the audience doesn't need to know a single thing about the Magic universe... the movie will convey all the audience needs to know and then some.
This guy gets it.
Problem is that if you were to feature oldwalkers and later neowalkers (Which they will feature eventually, because the Neowalkers are the face of Magic, whether you like it or not.) then you'd not only have to explain two different kinds of planeswalkers but also the mending. That's a tad much for kicking off a Magic movie.
So we don't know how Jace ascended, so it must be lame? Also, why does the story has to revolve around an established character?
This seems to be less an argument and more an opinion.
There is no reason to think there isn't an epic story to tell that involves neowalkers.
But you don't need to explain the Brother's War to make sense of the multiverse. And you don't need to know the Phyrexian's origin to portray them as the evil faction threatening the multiverse. Does anyone know the details of the origin of the Borg? It could be mentioned where the Phyrexians come from and why Dominaria is a wasteland, but that could be mentioned in passing in one or two sentences and it'd be fine.
The 3 most important reasons movie companies make movies:
1. Money
2. Cash
3. Dollars/Euros/and other Money Signs
They don't care about our precious history or any stuff occurring in our beloved multiverse. They just want to see if they can milk it for something. It is harsh but it is the truth
So having said that:
Point 1: Having a base audience is still a very important factor in making films. I think they'll try to figure out which is more popular to the current fan base. New walkers would beat old walkers any time of the day in terms of popularity. There's a possibility that they might not use a planeswalker at all, but I doubt that ever happen because Planeswalkers are the centerpiece of our lore.
Point 2: I don't think that they'll go all out and present us an epic MTG trilogy without establishing any identity in the movies first. It is more likely that they'll play it safe and do a very simple movie that is related to MTG -just like what the Blade movies did for Marvel- and decide from there.
Final thoughts: I don't think MTG is that popular enough and any extravagant/fantastic ideas (especially by us the core fans) should be watered-down a little bit for now so that we won't be disappointed if the movie ever comes out.
The shell of Arena, revenge with a backdrop of Houses at war, blended with Jace's moral quandry from Agents of Artifice seems like a good way to go. To get the audience to empathize with Jace, we'd need to see that the Houses he's going to war against are worse than he is. At the same time, the filmmakers need to emphasize the brutality behind Jace's mind magic. Then, seeing Jace's competence, Tezzeret can induct him into the Consortium. From here, Jace can be sent on missions to Zendikar, Alara, or wherever.
I fully expect to see other printed planeswalkers in supporting roles that're developed throughout the film series.
It's not about what I want. It's about what is most likely going to happen.
The way I see it, there are a few main storylines that take place across the planes going on with the neowalkers.
Alara(don't need to explain that Bolas needs the power to recover from the mending, just that the maelstoom would create it and he wants it)
Zendikar and the various characters trying to find solutions(Kiora, Gideon)
New Phyrexia/fall of Mirrodin
Tezzeret/Jace/Consortium
I hope they DON'T do Alara, the budget for the first movie would not be enough for the special effects needed to have Ajani as a good main character.
Zendikar won't happen because there is backstory needed, there is no conclusion(other than Eldrazi unleashed to destroy everything). If Zendikar gets resolved by the time they make the movie, then there would be WAY to much backstory. (The Eldrazi and whatever stops them, which will be another full block).
Jace, Tezzeret, and the Consortium seems like it would have the least amount of necessary backstory, while providing a lead-in to a lot of other things of the movie is a success.
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