Everything We Know About David Copperfield's Plan To Make The Moon Disappear

David Copperfield: illusionist extraordinaire, Dickensian namesake, and guy who's really into squinting towards cameras. Yes, few folks in the history of stage magic conjure awe as well as they invoke media buzz about their next piece of illustrious illusionary-ness. He levitated over the Grand Canyon, stepped through the Great Wall of China, escaped from Alcatraz, made a plane disappear, a train disappear, and the Statue of Liberty disappear. And now? He's going to make a celestial body disappear. Say bye, bye moon. You've been our stalwart nighttime companion for a solid 4.5 billion years.

Okay, quick clarification: Copperfield is not going to actually erase the moon from the sky. On Today he says that the impending illusion has "taken 30 years of work, that's literally 30 years of our lives developing this." As for how the illusion operates, Copperfield simply says, "There's multiple methods to make it work." Among those methods? A whole lot of money, no doubt, if his Hollywood-level budget promo trailer on Twitter is any indication. February 2024 is the intended magical drop date, the promo says, as Copperfield strides across the moon regaled in garb as black as space.

There's a noble purpose behind all this pageantry, though: It's being conducted in conjunction with Save the Children. "If one person can make the moon disappear from the sky, imagine how together we can make poverty, hunger, and danger disappear for children on Earth." Copperfield says.

One might wonder how David Copperfield might go about practicing making the moon disappear. After all, folks would definitely notice, right? Not one to shed his mystical methods, Copperfield said on Today that his magical moon-masking measures were "going well." He continued, "In fact, I've been testing them the past few months and people have reported seeing strange things in the sky at night, all around the country." 

Seizing the promotional moment, Copperfield added, "So, if anybody in the home sees anything weird up in the sky, please let me know by tagging me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook." To further involve the public, he also mentioned a competition to see the illusion performed live. "We're going to have a contest for people to actually win a chance to see the moon vanish live and in person," he said, "and we'll reveal more about that over the next few months on my socials."

While a few folks have already speculated how Copperfield might pull off this grandest of tricks, sites like The Spoof! parodied this exact moment back in 2006 under the headline "David Copperfield Makes the Moon Disappear, NSA Places Him in Custody." "I'll be okay," Copperfield said in this fictional scenario, "In fact, once I'm out of here my next trick will be to make the NSA itself disappear lol." As for how The Spoof! conjectured he'd pull it off, he merely waved a "magic iPod" at the sky, and poof: all gone.

As for why David Copperfield is performing his lunar illusion in conjunction with Save the Children, the organization says that it was Copperfield's choice. "Copperfield has chosen to collaborate with Save the Children to facilitate the positive impact this event can have on children in crisis," Save the Children says. Save the Children U.S. Vice-President Jennifer Roberti also talks about how well-suited stage magic is to evoking childlike wonder, stating, "Anyone who has seen David perform, live or on TV, knows how awe-inspiring his magic can be," and, "We think that his message of positivity and passion for helping children around the world are a perfect complement to the difficult work we do every day." Like Copperfield, Save the Children also requests that folks stay tuned for further details as the upcoming February 2024 illusion date approaches.

In the leadup to his moon-vanishing moment, Copperfield will apparently not be taking a break from his usual, nightly gig at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as the hotel website depicts. "The greatest illusionist of our time," the MGM Grand says, will continue to "confound and delight audiences with his unbelievable illusions and charming stories." That last point might just lift the curtain on Copperfield's success: He's keyed into the kind of awe and bewilderment that defines what it means to be a "magician." Come next year, we might not all understand how the moon disappears, but we can at least witness it with unabashed amazement.