The number 1 best selling documentary of 2019
P R E S S C O V E R A G E
15 Apr 2019
VIMooZ
Documentary GENERAL MAGIC, on Rise and Fall of One of the Most Influential Tech Companies, Sets May Release Date
These “magicians” have become the tech innovators that now lead companies like Samsung, Apple and Facebook. General Magic, the film tells the story of how great vision, grave betrayal and an epic failure changed the world forever.
9 Dec 2019
Entertainment Weekly
Best documentaries of 2019
If you have lightning, and you have a bottle, are you guaranteed to capture that lightning in the bottle. This fascination film has a visceral and playful way of laying out how the invention of the smartphone - years before the first iPhone - didn't pan out for the creators at General Magic, highling how those skilled smarties still went on to found and support some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley today. No technical experience necessary.
1 Jan 2023
Commoncog Case Library
General Magic - The Future, Too Early
In many projects you might build one or two innovative breakout things and then you build on top of a lot of existing stuff. You kind of stand on the shoulders of giants. We weren’t doing that at General Magic. We were building the giant from the toes all the way up to his head (emphasis added).
28 Jul 2018
Axois
General Magic was a failed startup ahead of its time
Old Silicon Valley nostalgia descended upon a San Jose theater as "General Magic," a recently released documentary about a 90s startup by the same name, held its local premiere on Thursday (its initial debut was at the Tribeca Film Festival in April).
12 Aug 2018
Ars Technica
General Magic -- how tech superfriends assembled, dreamt up smartphones, and failed
Contains a refreshing amount of casual, blunt honesty that you won't find in many profiles of present-day companies. The film does well to show that the talent assembled at General Magic seems truly staggering in retrospect.
18 Apr 2018
Village Voice
The Exceptionally Varied Gems of This Year's Tribeca Film Festival
One of the whispered-about legends of Silicon Valley, General Magic was an early-Nineties spinoff of Apple tasked with developing what was, essentially, the technology (as well as the aesthetics and the ethos) of the smartphone.
11 Jul 2023
New York Times
General Magic: A startup before its time
The film vividly portrays the company’s inventive spirit, and present-day interviews with key employees — many of whom went on to important roles at Google, Adobe and elsewhere — make it clear that their time at General Magic was instrumental in their later successes.
20 Apr 2018
Forbes
General Magic Doc Is Full Of Life And Lessons For Inventors
The film, directed by Matthew Maude and Sarah Kerruish, is poignant, entertaining and full of life lessons from the small and personal to the universal. Lessons that should be appreciated by everyone, especially those on the cutting edge of technology today.