Magic The Gathering director Matt Johnson says MTG is "my Star Wars", even though a 2006 tour loss still scars him: "I'm never going to be a pro Magic player"

On the face of it, Matt Johnson – of Blackberry and Nirvanna The Show The Band fame – might seem like an odd pick to helm a Magic: The Gathering movie.

But as he recounts in a new interview with The Big Picture, the love of MTG runs deep in his veins.

"That game taught me to read. When I was a kid, my dream was to be a professional Magic card player. I mean that literally. I made Day 2 in Detroit, 2006 Pro Tour [with] Champions of Kamigawa. I drafted like garbage. I sat next to [Magic] player Richard Hoaen, who just beat the shit out of me," Johnson recalled.

Instead of shuffling his deck and returning to the card scene, Johnson opted to play a new hand of cards – by going all-in on filmmaking.

"I made the decision right then to take filmmaking seriously, because I'm never going to be a pro Magic player," Johnson said. Then I just quit. [It] broke my heart."

Johnson added, "For years, I've said I would trade my entire career to be a professional Magic card player. Now I'm making the Magic card movie. It's almost like someone was listening. It was like making a wish on a monkey paw… To me, that's my Star Wars – getting to revisit a world that I know so well, that I love so much, that meant so much to me, is surreal."

Right now, there is little out there surrounding the Magic the Gathering movie, other than the initial announcement that Hasbro and Legendary were teaming up to create a live-action film and a "television universe." Johnson was named as director of the film in April 2025.

"This is an exciting and complementary partnership, uniting one of the world's most iconic brands with a powerful and proven steward. Magic: The Gathering has inspired decades of epic world-building and creative storytelling. It is a perfect match for Legendary's diversified approach to marquee IP, and we are excited to work together to build a whole new Magic. The Gathering universe," Hasbro head of film Zev Foreman said in a statement last year.

For more, check out all the upcoming video game movies in the works, plus a larger look at the movie release dates you still have to look forward to this year.