Official poster for the 2025 feature documentary, IGNITING THE SPARK - The Story of Magic: The Gathering.
Igniting the Spark - The Story of Magic: The Gathering is a feature-length documentary released in August 2025 that chronicles the game’s origin story, its 1993 release at Gen Con, and its sale to Hasbro in 1999. The film premiered at the 2025 Gen Con Film Festival and won Best Documentary.[1][2]
Description[]
Igniting the Spark explores the origins and legacy of the world's first collectible card game, Magic: the Gathering. How did a game created by Ph.D. students turn into a multi-billion-dollar pastime and pop-culture juggernaut for Hasbro? Why have millions of players passionately embraced it, achieving more than a billion dollars in sales? With interviews, archival '90s VHS video, and deep dives into hidden vaults of long-lost treasures, Igniting the Spark finds out what makes Magic so... magic.
The film production included over 70 interviews, with Magic luminaries like Richard Garfield, Peter Adkison, Lisa Stevens, Jesper Myrfors, Skaff Elias, Luc Mertens, Beverly Marshall Saling, Dave Howell, and Sheldon Menery; Magic artists like Mark Poole, Jeff Menges, Donato Giancola, Liz Danforth, Jarel Threat, Winona Nelson, Rob Alexander, and Steve Argyle; Wizards of the Coast current and former staff like Jess Lanzillo, Mark Rosewater, Gavin Verhey, Elaine Chase, Mike Turian, Ken Troop, Jefferson Dunlap, Melissa DeTora, and Aaron Forsythe; and Magic players and influencers like Reid Duke, Brian Kibler, Olivia Gobert-Hicks, The Professor, and Dana Fischer.
The film's runtime is 116 minutes, and has a TV-PG rating.
Production Team[]
The production team includes Brian Stillman of X-Ray Films (Co-Director, Co-Producer, Director of Photography) and Kelley Slagle (Co-Director, Co-Producer, Co-Editor) and Seth C. Polansky (Co-Producer, Location Sound/Sound Design, Legal) of Cavegirl Productions, as well as Art Director Mary Hawkins. Other Igniting the Spark producers include Anna Roberts, Cisco Henson, Brian Volk-Weiss, and Savannah Goss.
Brian, Kelley, and Seth also produced the 2019 feature documentary, Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons. Brian produced the 2014 documentary Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys and is a producer on The Toys That Made Us, and Kelley and Seth produced the 2014 narrative feature Of Dice and Men.
Distribution[]
Igniting the Spark is distributed by The Nacelle Company (The Toys That Made Us, The Movies That Made Us, Down to Earth with Zac Effron).
The film can currently be rented or purchased on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vimeo, and the YouTubeTV Store.
References[]
- ↑ 'Igniting the Spark - The Story of Magic: The Gathering' Documentary to Premiere at Gen Con, Variety.com, July 24, 2025
- ↑ Movie Review: "Igniting the Spark - The Story of Magic: The Gathering" Shows How the World-Changing Game Almost Never Happened", LaughingPlace.com, Kyle Burbank, August 3, 2025