No superhero movie has had quite the trip through development hell that the Gambit movie has. The project has been through multiple directors over the last couple of years and at one point very nearly lost its star, Channing Tatum, even though he was one of the major forces trying to get the project produced in the first place. It's had its release date pushed back so many times that more than once it has seemed like the movie was never actually going to get made. However, Gambit has never been canceled outright and now it seems that Fox might be taking yet another shot at making it happen, with a new rumor claiming the film could go before cameras in February.
Officially, Gambit has a release date of June 2019, but even if the movie started filming tomorrow it likely wouldn't be able to make that window. If it is, in fact, going to start filming in February it may be looking at an early summer 2020 release instead. According to the rumor, reported by GWW, the Gambit movie plans to film in New Orleans, a fitting location for the cajun superhero, and Fox is looking to get the movie going ASAP as the studio wants to get Gambit going before the merger with Disney is complete, which is expected to be done sometime next summer.
It's understandable Fox would want to get the Gambit movie made before the merger is complete, as all signs point to the fact that once the merger happens, the entire Fox X-Men universe will be going through a major upheaval if it's not completely scrapped. There are people and production companies that stand to benefit from a Gambit movie being made that may be out that opportunity once the merger is complete. Even if Disney wants to move forward with the idea, there's no guarantee they won't start the whole thing over from scratch.
Of course, there are a few things standing in the way of a Gambit movie really getting going at this point. Specifically, the fact that the movie has no attached director. The project has been through several hands over the last couple of years, most recently Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, but he dropped out of the production at the beginning of this year and nobody has been announced to take his place. If the movie really expects to start filming in five months it really needs a director on board now in order to oversee all the preproduction that needs to happen before cameras begin to roll.
Could the Gambit movie finally be happening? Maybe. We'll keep our eyes on this and let you know as things develop, if they do.
