After delivering the chilling thriller Trap, director M. Night Shyamalan is making a change to the small screen with a new project, a scripted, live-action TV show based on Mattel’s iconic novelty toy, the Magic 8 Ball.
Shyamalan won’t be tackling this mysterious sphere alone. He’s partnering with TV heavyweight Brad Falchuk, the co-creator behind massive hits like “Glee,” “American Horror Story,” and the “911″ franchise. The two will serve as co-creators on the series, which Mattel Studios is producing.
“Been working on this for a couple years… Who’s in?” Shyamalan captioned the post, adding the perfectly ironic hashtag “It Is Certain,” nodding to one of the most famous answers from the fortune-telling toy.
The Magic 8 Ball, invented in 1946, is the ultimate low-tech oracle. Ask a question. Shake the 8 Ball and an a answer, ranging from “Without a doubt” to “My sources say no,” will surface.
Shyamalan has a penchant for weaving fate, destiny, and consequences into his work. That with the toy’s design offers an incredibly fertile ground with many potential options and plots.
This TV series clearly shows that Mattel is aggressively leveraging its vast library following the colossal, billion-dollar success of Barbie. The current push is expanding into virtually every corner of their toy box. Upcoming projects include a Hot Wheels movie, a Barney movie, and a Matchbox movie. There’s also a Rock’ Sock’em Robots project starring Vin Diesel, and of ciourse, the Master of the Universe project.
With Shyamalan and Falchuk involved, the Magic 8 Ball series is poised to be a fascinating exploration in the growing slate of toy-to-screen adaptations.
As for the announcement, Shyamalan broke the news on Instagram, teasing fans with a photo of a script cover that boldly read: “Magic 8 Ball Season 1 ‘Pilot.'”
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