Since it was announced, Fox’s solo Gambit movie has gone through just about every ring of production hell, including scheduling delays, rewrites, and losing its latest director to Justice League Dark. , X-Men producer Simon Kinberg confirmed that the film is still in “active development” and could be shooting by early 2018. “It’s a movie that we hope will be ready to go by the end of this year and shoot next year,” said Kinberg. “We have two or three X-Men related movies this year, so it can wait for a moment. The process has been that Channing [Tatum] is as determined about getting the character right as Ryan Reynolds was about Deadpool and Hugh [Jackman] was about this Logan movie. We know that when we get those right, the movie succeeds. So we want to make sure we get Gambit right, because we want him to be the beginning of a whole new franchise.” The Deadpool comparison is the most flattering spin on the situation, but the patterns really are similar so far.
Deadpool also struggled to find a director. It was also delayed, and it also had to schedule its production around Ryan Reynolds’ other obligations. However, when it finally came out, it was a critical and box office success. If Gambit uses its time wisely, it could be similarly successful–but it’s also dealing with an entirely different sort of character. As Nerdist points out, “You don’t see Gambit merchandise on the level of Wolverine or Deadpool…he’s not a breakout character in the way Marvel (and probably Fox) has always hoped he would be. A successful solo Gambit movie is a huge gamble, and a lot more of its potential success has to do with Channing Tatum’s power to draw in audiences, vs. the draw of the character itself.” Logan and Deadpool both had to work hard to capture the essence of a well-loved, well-known character. Gambit, on the other hand, needs to find a way to make its less famous character’s traits work with Tatum’s not-insubstantial charms.
Personally, I find Tatum can be very funny, and projects like Magic Mike show that he can have a lot of fun as a sex symbol. Both of those are assets for an actor playing Gambit. My biggest question is how well Tatum can capture Gambit’s slyness, or his slicker, less trustworthy side. I’m basically on the same page as the Nerdist, in that I think Fox’s key to success here is crafting an effective vehicle for Tatum’s existing talents. If they play to their star’s strengths in this interpretation, they could still pull this off. Kinberg’s talk of “franchise[s]” does have me a little worried, though he may have just been hyping the studio’s commitment to the project. This movie is not going to work if they spend half of it setting up sequels or some other nonsense. Given Gambit’s relative profile, they need to spend their screen time helping audiences get to know and love him–not promising audiences more of him before they even know who he is. But what do you think?
Are you worried about this one? (; image via Marvel Comics) Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site! —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.— Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+. There are often films that enter the development stage and never make it to the screen. that the film has entered active development and will hopefully film next year. “It’s in active development. It’s a movie that we hope will be ready to go by the end of this year and shoot next year. We have two or three X-Men related movies this year so it can wait for a moment. The process has been that Channing [Tatum] is as determined about getting the character right as Ryan Reynolds was about Deadpool and Hugh [Jackman] was about this Logan movie. We know that when we get those right, the movie succeeds so we want to make sure we get Gambit right because we want him to be the beginning of a whole new franchise.”
It’s exciting to hear that the film has taken so long because Channing Tatum wants to get it right. Like Kinberg said, both Logan and Deadpool found critical and (hopefully) financial success, so taking that approach to Gambit seems like the perfect plan. Are you happy to hear that the Gambit movie is still being developed? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below!Let’s give the ragin’ Cajun a little more applause this week, shall we? While we here at Geek & Sundry love Remy LeBeau, he often gets overlooked by all of the other top hitters in the X-Men lineup. Well, when you have a character with such strong defining cultural backgrounds and characteristics, eventually you’re going to wonder to what kind of music they might listen. Some zydeco, a little classic rock, maybe even some Tenacious D—this playlist has a good variety of songs to get Gambit swirling his bo staff and showing his enemies that ace up his sleeve. Rock on, Gambit fans…rock on.
Image Credit: Fantasy Records/Wikimedia Commons How could we not put this classic on the list? Gambit’s hometown is right in the swamps of Louisiana—so much so that one could say he, too, was born on the bayou. And not many bands help capture spirit that Remy has much more than Creedence Clearwater Revival. Here’s hoping there will be plenty of Creedence in the Gambit movie. “If you like to gamble, I tell you I’m your man. You win some, lose some, it’s all the same to me.” Sounds more like Gambit the more you repeat it, doesn’t it? Remy isn’t always a team player, and if a situation goes sour, you can’t always count on him to focus on the good of the team rather than himself. That’s just who he is— and there’s not much the other X-Men can do about that. But that’s what we love about Gambit: he’s a sensitive scoundrel. Image Credit: G. Leon/Wikimedia Commons OK, so this song might be on here solely for the title, but it’s Radiohead—so we’ll give it the respect it deserves.
We threw this song onto our list not just because it harkens back to Gambit’s ability to kinetically charge up the objects he throws at his enemies, but also because of the eerie confusion that it instills. When you’re fighting against Gambit, he has a way of getting into your head and confusing you, being that he’s so quick, deceitful, and cunning. A perfect recipe for a headache, if you’re on the other end of that bo staff. Image Credit: Julio Aprea/Wikimedia Commons For many Aerosmith fans, this song isn’t even near the top of their all-time favorite songs, but in the case of Gambit, we think its a perfect fit. Gambit brings a whole new meaning to the term “real men wear pink—be it the hints of pink in his costume, or the glowing playing cards in his hands, Gambit sure isn’t afraid to embrace the pink. “Pink, it’s my new obsession, yeah. Pink, it’s not even a question.” Image Credit: Helge Øverås/Wikimedia Commons Even the good guys don’t always have to play by the rules, and Gambit is no exception to that statement.
As we mentioned before, Gambit is always going to do whatever it takes to save his own skin. For a guy who is most well known for throwing cards, we’d like to think of him as a bit of a card cheat. Plus, with this song you get a little taste of The Clash, so no complaining there. Image Credit: Carlos Delgado/Wikimedia Commons “Bowing down to disillusion. Hats off and applause to rogues and evolution.” With this one, we’re paying tribute here to our favorite of Gambit’s lovers: Rogue. Their relationship is one that most X-Men fans hold dear—and it is mostly because they were unlike most other couples in fiction, given that they had their flaws and dark sides, but found common ground in each other. Not to mention, they are both children of the South. Image Credit: Warner Bros Records While he’s known mostly for throwing cards, Gambit can literally throw anything at this enemies and have it be deadly. While this song might be symbolism for an underlying political message, we’ll look at it literally.
“Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy she’ll beat you if she’s able. You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.” We wonder what goes through Gambit’s head as he whips those playing cards across the battlefield. Each card has a purpose and a mission. Is it possible Gambit has a favorite card? Maybe the Jack of Hearts? Or the Ace of Clubs? Either way, at the end of the day we’re sure Gambit has to deal with his own demons, and this song is all about soothing a weary man after a particularly long one. We wanted to close this playlist out with a laugh—we think Gambit would want it that way. And given that Tenacious D is all about a good old classic throwdown—as is our boy Gambit—we think they’d both prefer to settle scores in a fight. Odds are, Gambit tells his enemies to throw down before the fight even begins. That’s another Superhero Playlist in the bag for this week; we certainly hope you enjoyed it. Keep on coming back for more installments every week!