Disney’s acquisition of Fox has already led to some major decisions. Here is another one. The X-Men spinoff Gambit, which was set to star Channing Tatum, has been canned.
To some, this isn’t a surprise. A Gambit movie was always a slightly odd idea anyway. He was a character who had only appeared in one X-Men movie – X-Men Origins: Wolverine – and Fox wanted him to lead his own film. The film cycled through various directors, from Doug Liman to Gore Verbinski, but kept running into problems.
With directors leaving, and no one seemingly able to create a distilled vision of the project, the release date was constantly pushed back. The film was set to arrive in March 2020 before this cancellation. But even that was wishful thinking with the Disney/Fox merger looming over everything, and no director attached.
Disney sent out a slew of release dates and announcements yesterday, and Gambit was nowhere to be seen. It’s somewhat of a shame, as at one point Tatum and Lizzy Caplan were signed on, with Verbinski directing. That certainly could have been something cool, but it’s debatable whether the character had any draw for audiences.
Gambit was the star of the 90s animated X-Men TV series, but that hardly equals a billion dollars at the box office, which is essentially what Disney is aiming for with every movie now. So for those hoping to see Tatum as a superhero, this is a sad day.
In the announcement, Disney also dropped all untitled Fox-Marvel movies from the schedule. This is less of a surprise, as those aren’t going to happen now thanks to the merger. While it’s very possible, even likely, that the X-Men or Deadpool turn up in the MCU somewhere down the line, we’re probably a ways off from that.
#Peace.Love.Gambit
