The Gambit movie can't seem to catch a break. It's had one hell of a time keeping a director long enough to go into production, but now the Cajun superhero may be eyeing a start date to actually begin filming. Simon Kinberg, one of the producers involved in all of Fox's Marvel projects has revealed that the script for Gambit is ready, and the project should have a new director very soon. Once all of that is ready, the film could begin shooting as early as the end of this summer. According to Kinberg...
We have a script that's extraordinary, that we love, that Channing loves, Channing Tatum. And 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.
To be fair, Simon Kinberg tells Variety that "maybe" the movie could be filming this summer, so even he doesn't seem 100% convinced that it will happen that soon. Still, you can't blame the guy for hedging a little considering how much this movie has gone through. If filming actually starts this summer a lot of people will be surprised, though pleasantly so I'd imagine.
Numerous directors, from Gore Verbinski to Doug Liman to Rupert Wyatt have been attached to the Gambit movie over the years, but all have left for various reasons. With every delay due to director issues came a delay in the release date. The movie is currently set with a June 2019 release, but it was once eyeing an October 2016 release window, which gives you an idea just how rough a go of it this movie has had. Certainly, to keep the June 2019 release date, production on Gambit needs to begin this summer, but with the history this film has had, I'll have to take an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude.
Still, the fact that Gambit is even still an active concern at all means that there's a lot of will behind making the movie happen. Part of that is likely simply because it's a comic book superhero movie in an era when that particular genre is insanely popular, but the character of Gambit has a pretty significant fan base, star Channing Tatum included among them, which has clearly made this particular project one that people didn't want to just let go.
Hey, there was a time when a superhero passion project that seemed like it was never going to happen turned into a massive hit franchise. I'm not saying Gambit is the next Deadpool, but it certainly wouldn't be so bad if it was.
