While walking the red carpet at the New York premiere ofDeadpool 2last night, producer Simon Kinberg offered a new update on anotherX-Menspin-off, the long-awaitedGambit. At the end of March, Kinberg hinted that a director announcement would be coming soon, and that they hoped to start production in June, but now it seems they’re aiming for filming to begin a bit later this summer with star Channing Tatum. Here’s what Kinberg had to say during an interview on theDeadpool 2red carpet.
“We have a script that we love, that Channing loves.We’ve met with a bunch of directors in the last couple of weeks, and we’re hoping to actually pick one in the next couple of weeks and shoot the movie maybe the end of this summer.”
Gambithas been invarious stages of developmentfor the past few years now, with Channing Tatum first confirmed to play the Cajun, card-throwing mutant back in October 2014, with an October 2016 release date being eyed at that time. Rupert Wyatt became the first director attached in June 2015, and there were reports that filming was being eyed to start that fall, with Lea Seydoux eyed to play Belladonna Boudreaux, but Wyatt backed out in September 2015. Doug Liman came aboard in November 2015, with production slated to begin in the spring of 2016, but production was delayed due to script rewrites, with Kinberg adding in August 2016 that they were having issues finding the right tone.
Liman ended up leaving the project in August 2016, with Tatum revealing in August 2017 that the project was being reconceived, in the light of the success of 20th Century Fox’s R-rated hitsDeadpoolandLogan. Gore Verbinski came aboard in October 2017, with Lizzy Caplan eyed for the female lead and Channing Tatum’sLogan Luckyco-star Daniel Craig rumored to play Mister Sinister. Gore Verbinskiultimately dropped out in Januaryof this year, with theGambitrelease date pushed to July 14, 2025, which puts it up against Sony’sCharlie’s Angelsreboot and Universal’s animated sequelThe Secret Life of Pets 2.
At one point, there were supposed to be threeX-Menmovies arriving in theaters this year, and now there is only one,Deapdool 2, but if everything goes to plan, next year will feature threeX-Menmovies.X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which was originally scheduled to arrive on June 20, 2025, is now slated to debut on July 23, 2025.Gambitwill be the middle film in this trio, arriving onJune 7, 2019, with the third movie,The New Mutants, arriving on June 30, 2025. Whether or not all of these dates are kept will likely depend on the production schedule ofGambitand the reshoot schedules of bothDark PhoenixandNew Mutants.
There has also been no indication yet as to whether or not there are plans to integrateGambitinto rest of theX-Menfranchise, but that may yet depend on the Disney Fox merger, which is expected to be finalized sometime next year. Still, until that happens, it’s said to be “business as usual” at 20th Century Fox, and hopefully we’ll hear who is directingGambitsoon, as promised by Simon Kinberg.Varietybroke the news from theDeadpool 2red carpet yesterday.
