- accentrikproductio
“GAMBIT” IS DEAD
GAMBIT DIDN’T SURVIVE THE FOX DISNEY MERGER
Channing Tatum’s dream of becoming Gambit has been killed. It was previously reported that the only way for him to make the film was if Disney executives approved it; despite already being greenlit by Fox executives. Due to the Disney/Fox merger, all pending Fox films were placed under re-evaluation.
It has been confirmed that the Gambit solo film is scrapped. Despite Tatum starring in the film, the insanely high turnover rate of directors for the film came off as negative. Tatum was invested in the role to the point where he decided to direct the film himself. The decision of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to not utilize the X-Men franchises for at least five years was most likely the deal-breaker. Disney wouldn’t want to produce a film that wouldn’t have any ties to their blockbuster cash cows until those films could interact with the MCU in some way. Despite their successes, Logan was made to revitalize Wolverine since Hugh Jackman was retiring the character; and Ryan Reynolds has enough starpower to bring Deadpool to life. Tatum and definitely Gambit are not large enough to go through the trouble (after all, Deadpool might be done too).
In an interview with Variety, long-time X-Men franchise producer Simon Kinberg revealed the original concept for the Gambit film and how it would fit the themes of Logan and Deadpool:
“When you look at Gambit. He’s a hustler and a womanizer and we just felt like there was an attitude, a swagger to him, that lent itself to romantic comedy. ‘Deadpool’ was an R-rated, raunchy comedy, ‘Logan’ was a western, Gambit’s gonna be a romantic comedy, and ‘New Mutants’ is very decidedly a horror film.You know, when I say romantic comedy, I use that term loosely, in the same term that I use the term western for ‘Logan’ loosely. It’s not like they’re gunslingers at high noon in ‘Logan’. It’s just a vibe. And I would say the vibe of ‘Gambit’ has a romantic or sex comedy vibe to it. While it is also still very much a superhero movie with villains and heroes, as all these movies are.”
Is there a chance the Gambit film could be made outside of the MCU (like the Spider-Man films)? Or should we just wait until the X-Men show up in the MCU?