How a Franchise About Magicians Became a Surprise Smash Hit

It’s one of those ideas that, once you hear it, you can’t believe it hasn’t been done a million times: A group of magicians use their tricks to pull off epic heists, transferring large sums from giant corporations back into the hands of the people. Or, as producer Bobby Cohen pitched the idea before the film was made: “Magic Robin Hood with a nice dollop of Ocean’s Eleven.” That’s the principle behind Now You See Me, the 2013 movie starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco as the Four Horsemen, a group of heisting magicians. Directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon and Boaz Yakin, the film blew away the box office, earning an impressive $351.7 million on a $75 million budget. The sequel from Jon M. Chu, 2016’s Now You See Me 2, performed similarly well, taking in $334.9 million. Now, nearly a decade after the second film, cinema’s most unlikely blockbuster franchise is back with its third entry, the cleverly titled Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, in cinemas this weekend. And it’s really, ridiculously fun. How exactly did a movie about magicians, of all things, become a true Hollywood success story? Cohen and Ruben Fleischer, director of the latest installment, have some ideas. Always reveal a magician’s secrets “On the most basic level, people love magic,” says Cohen. “And I think they like magic for two reasons: the experience of simultaneously being fooled and then wanting to know exactly how it was done. In these movies, we’ve been able to give the audience both.” Though a real magician never reveals their secrets, they do in NYSM, and one of the most enticing parts of each film is when the Horsemen reveal the intricate details of their stunts. It’s a clever move that encourages audiences to go back and see the movies again, to watch these complex plans unfold with a new perspective. Cohen also credits the Horsemen themselves. “People just love these characters. They love the banter, and I think fundamentally on some primal level, the rooting interest is these guys taking down the corrupt.” Fleischer agrees that chemistry is key, along with the sense of joy the films inspire. “The movies are really fun. It knowingly doesn’t take itself too seriously. It acknowledges it’s maybe even a little bit silly,” says Fleischer. “They have a tradition of being ridiculous and kind of over the top, but that’s what makes them worthy of a theatrical experience.” Fun, he says, was his “North Star” for every frame. That’s especially clear in the casting of Rosamund Pike, who delivers a deliciously camp and villainous twist on the antagonist. “I would joke that she classed up the joint a bit,” Fleischer recalls. An original idea, and real tricks The Now You See Me films also offer something unique in a crowded blockbuster space: movies based on an original idea. Of the top 10 movies at the 2025 box office, just one (F1: The Movie) is an original story. Expanding to the top 15, that number rises to three (Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Final Destination: Bloodlines, the sixth film in the horror franchise). Based on the previous films’ earnings, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is likely to be the fourth. “There aren’t a lot of competing magic-based heist movies that I’m aware of,” jokes Fleischer. Cohen agrees: “People love the fact that it wasn’t based on a comic book or something else. When something feels truly original, that’s a big thing.” Given how flashy the tricks are, it may surprise viewers to learn that the magic is all done on camera. “In movie one, the majority of the magic was in camera, real stuff. I think it’s fair to say we let it get a little bit away from us in the second, falling into the desire to have a bigger sequel, bigger stunts,” says Cohen. With Fleischer helming the third, it was paramount for both him and Cohen to ensure real magic was always the focus. “We built the spinning hallway, the room where the perspective is different, and that magic competition moment, where each magician is showing off, passing that baton to each other,” recalls Cohen. While Cohen helped originate the franchise, Fleischer was new to the fold, and upping the sense of realism was important to him. “There’s a certain degree of objectivity in being an outsider, where I was able to approach this new one as a true fan and an audience member,” he says. “Not to disparage the past ones, but a YouTube video I watched was asking the question, ‘Are they magicians, or are they sorcerers?’ They rated each of the tricks and sequences and whether or not a true magician could achieve them. So I wanted to make sure we didn’t cross the threshold from magician into, you know, stopping rain.” Some early reviews have called out the film for being full of fake tricks, but Fleischer wants them to know they’re wrong. “Everything’s real, and it’s all bona fide by real magicians. Everything’s completely legitimate. I’m not quite sure how that didn’t come across,” he says. “It’s super important to me that upon second viewing, everything holds up, and you can’t call bullsh-t..” “The way that we use CG in this movie is more as the finishing touch,” says Cohen. “In other words, it’s painting out a little bit of a wire. If Isla makes a diamond appear, she’s doing the trick, but if there’s a little bit of a string underneath it, or a little bit of something else. We’re taking that out.”  A genuine passion for illusion As absurd as it may seem as the Horsemen pull off the unthinkable, Now You See Me remains grounded in actual magic. A big reason for that is Cohen and Fleischer’s genuine passion for the art of magic and illusion. “I used to think magic was just those crummy magicians at children’s parties,” says Fleischer. “But I’ve been to the Magic Castle in L.A., and when I got to see magic at an incredibly high level, I became very enamored. I really appreciate the experience of being made to feel like a little kid, as a cynical adult who doesn’t have much joy in his life.” One of the performers Fleischer was amazed by was Portuguese close-up magician Helder Guimarães, who became a consultant for the film. Cohen, meanwhile, had loved magic ever since he was a kid. When he was 7, his grandfather took him to a magic convention on Long Island. He bought several of the tricks magicians were selling, took them home, and practiced them on his family. But perhaps the biggest trick Now You See Me pulls off is making magicians look cool. “On the entertainment scale, magicians are kind of a notch below rodeo clown,” says Cohen. “So we had to find a way to get a team of magicians together and treat them as a rock band, rather than something old-fashioned. A big magic show is, by definition, theatrical. It’s a little bit silly. You’re submitting to being fooled. It’s about experiencing that sense of childlike awe.”  The latest film in the franchise captures the essence of the whole endeavor, built upon Fleischer’s ethos of fun, fun, fun. “I think that’s what comes across with the Four Horsemen,” says Cohen. “I think that the joy that the actors have doing it comes through the screen, and that becomes another, almost meta layer of enjoyment. That joy is the secret sauce.”