Still no director for Gambit, but it could start shooting late this summer

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Honestly, it's going to take me sitting in a theater actually watching GAMBIT before I believe that it's really going to happen. The long-in-development X-MEN spin-off has been in the works for some time, with Channing Tatum having been attached to play the title character for nearly a decade. What's the hold up? Well, GAMBIT just can't seem to hold on to a director. Rupert Wyatt (RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES), Doug Liman (EDGE OF TOMORROW), and Gore Verbinski (A CURE FOR WELLNESS) have all put their time in on the film before departing, but Simon Kinberg seems confident that GAMBIT will actually start shooting quite soon.

While speaking with Variety at the New York premiere of DEADPOOL 2, the X-MEN franchise producer revealed where they're at with GAMBIT. "We have a script that we love — that Channing loves," Kinberg said. "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." As I said, I'll believe it when I see it, but at this point, either make it happen or walk away. All of these delays may wind up benefiting GAMBIT, as Simon Kinberg has previously said that they've used the past ten years to make the film something special.

I think the truth is when you have these movies that need a very special and unique tone, it takes a little while to find that tone. 'Deadpool’ feels like it exploded out of nowhere, but it was a 10-year development process on that movie. I think it was honed over those 10 years.

GAMBIT is currently slated for a June 7, 2019 release, but the next film in the X-MEN franchise is DEADPOOL 2, which will officially open on May 18th. You can check out a review of the Ryan Reynolds flick from our own Chris Bumbray right here!

Who would you like to see direct GAMBIT?