20th Century Fox Is Threatening To Make That GAMBIT Movie Again

The gatekeepers of 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise have spent the better part of the past decade repeatedly threatening to make a solo Gambit movie, but time and again the project has failed to make it across the starting line. Various filmmakers have found themselves attached to the material, only to end up wandering away from the production long before it actually gets rolling. It's happened so many times now that we don't even take it seriously anymore: "Oh, you're making a Gambit movie? Sure. Will that be along before or after the Crow remake?"

Well, much like that perpetually-gestating Crow reboot, it appears this may be the year where Fox actually follows through and makes a damn Gambit movie. Speaking to Variety at the world premiere of Deadpool 2, X-franchise boss Simon Kinberg offered the following update (h/t to The Playlist):

“We have a script that we love — that Channing [Tatum] 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.”

That's right - according to Kinberg, Gambit is still a go, Channing Tatum is still onboard to headline the film, and it could start shooting as early as this summer. If that's true, we imagine we'll find out who's directing the film any day now.

Will a solo Gambit movie even work? That depends largely on what story they plan on telling (it certainly won't suffer from having Tatum in the titular role; that man is a fountain of charisma), as well as the directorial chops of whoever signs on to make it happen. A solo Gambit movie feels wildly unnecessary, so here's hoping they've got a tale worth telling and someone who can make it look...well, not ridiculous. That's a very real concern on this one.

Anyway, stay tuned for more on Gambit as it becomes available.