As far as Marvel comics goes, some of the most popular heroes come from the X-Men. The Mutants have been adapted for film throughout Fox’s X-Men movies, as well as a few spinoffs. The Gambit movie was unfortunately scrapped, although the writer compared the Channing Tatum project to an iconic mob flick.
Gambit is a fan favorite X-Men, thanks to his swagger and tenure in the ‘90s animated series. Channing Tatum seemed like a great actor to lead a solo movie, but it sat in development hell for years before eventually being dropped altogether. Screenwriter Reid Carolin recently opened up about his vision for the comic book movie, saying:
We made this world in New Orleans that was a city of mutants that didn't care about saving the world. They went there so they could use their powers to party and hook up, and their hands could fry the grease at McDonald's and whatever else and the hardest thing for them to do was to fall in love because they could read each other's minds, or when they got into a fight, they could turn a table into a grenade and send their partner to the hospital or whatever. So, it was all this kind of low-level mutant fights and disagreements, and we sit in this world of the Mafia—almost kind of like a mutant Goodfellas in New Orleans.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a serious case of FOMO right now. It sounds like Gambit would have been like no other X-Men movie before it, and would operate on a different set of rules. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s any real chance of that project coming together. But maybe fan excitement can help change the tide.
Reid Carolin’s comments to The Playlist help show what it was really like for those trying to bring the scrapped Gambit movie to life. Rather than a typical comic book adventure, the movie was going to be void of actual heroes, and show a hidden world full of mutants. And it would also include some organized crime for good measure, inspired by Martin Scorsese's hit movie.
The Gambit movie was officially shelved back in May of 2019, after sitting in development hell for a number of years. Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox presented a new challenge in the X-Men spinoff’s failed journey to theaters. Channing Tatum recently opened up about how the disappointment of the movie being scrapped emotionally affected him, saying:
Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized. I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.
It’s unclear if/when the X-Men will return to the big screen, especially now that Disney has ownership over the beloved heroes. Fans have long hoped to see them in the MCU alongside The Avengers, so perhaps Channing Tatum could still end up playing Gambit– just in a different way. Only time will tell.
Channing Tatum’s new movie Dog will hit theaters on February 18th, and the next installment in the MCU is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
