The folks at 20th Century Fox seem to find themselves in a pretty good position when it comes to their current superhero lineup. X-Men: Apocalypse served as a respectable addition to the X-Men franchise, and the recent success of Deadpool will almost guarantee that the studio has enough good will with audiences to press onward into the future. They're in a great spot, but what about the long awaited, Channing Tatum-fronted Gambit movie? Simon Kinberg knows that you've been waiting for that particular X-Men adventure, and he finally has an explanation as to why it's taken so long. He said:
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 felt like it exploded out of nowhere but it was a ten-year development process on that movie. I hope that Gambit doesn't take ten years, but it takes a little honing to get that tone and that voice exactly right. Really it's just about getting a screenplay that is worthy of that character and I think we're really close right now.
Simon Kinberg spoke to Slashfilm during the Television Critics Association summer press tour and explained why Gambit has taken so long to come together. He concluded that a major tent pole superhero movie such as this requires extra care in order to ensure that the filmmakers actually get the style and tone right. Citing Deadpool as a proper example, he goes on to elaborate that a massive success doesn't come out of nowhere, and even the Merc with the Mouth's R-rated masterpiece took the better part of a decade to properly assemble. It probably won't take a decade for Gambit to get made, but the film was supposed to hit theaters this year, so clearly it has experienced setbacks.
With that in mind, finding a tone for a movie centering on Remy Lebeau, a.k.a Gambit, has probably presented a distinct challenge to 20th Century Fox. At his core, Gambit walks a tightrope between anti-hero and hero; he's a womanizer, a scoundrel and an all-around badass. That's a recipe for an awesome hero, hence why the character has become so popular with comic book fans, but the trouble comes in setting him apart from other anti-heroes within the X-Men universe. Simon Kinberg seems fairly confident that they will pull it off sooner rather than later, and our hopes remain high that this project will actually come to fruition at some point.
For now we will just have to make do with all of the other badass anti-heroes in the X-Men universe. We will keep you up to date with all of the latest and greatest details related to the Gambit movie, but for now it remains nothing more than a far off hope for long-time fans of the Marvel mythos.
