Oh boy, the saga of bringing the “Ragin Cajun” to the big screen has been going on for years. Heck, last year we saw reports of that the film was finally going to go into production. Unfortunately, they didn’t pan out and the film still hasn’t gotten off the ground.
The most recent rumor indicates that the film could be getting off the ground sooner rather than later. According to Geeks WorldWide, Fox wants to move the project forward and they are aiming for a February 15th start date in New Orleans, Lousiana. The report indicates that Fox “cleared the entire crew starting from scratch.” It goes on to say that new crew hires could start soon based on this rumored start date. While this rumor seems a little far-fetched, Fox still has Gambit set to release next year on June 7, 2019, and Channing Tatum is still attached.
It’s more than likely, Gambit will not be hitting its scheduled release date, but it’s possible they could push the film back a year if they began in February. For example, Spider-Man: Far From Home is scheduled for a July 5, 2019 release date and they are still filming right now. The earliest we might see Gambit is sometime in the beginning of 2020. There’s also a major hurdle the film has to fill. They need a director.
This isn’t the first time the Gambit film has been rumored to get underway. In fact, there’s been rumors and reports that Fox was developing a Gambit film since news broke that Channing Tatum was expected to play Remy LeBeau. Back then the film was expected to be released in 2016. Obviously, it didn’t happen.
Not long afterward, after fan art, and speculation about the film, the production was hitting bumps. First the original director, Rupert Wyatt was replaced by Doug Liman due to him and the studio fighting over the direction of the film. Liman didn’t last long as he left in 2016. Supposedly the divide between the director and studio wasn’t able to be bridged. And finally, they had a “mutual parting of ways.”
After that, it took almost a year for Fox to finally seat another director. Gore Verbinski was tapped to take on the project. But like his two predecessors, the director and studio parted ways.
With the Disney/Fox deal coming together, and Kevin Feige expected to be in charge of handling the X-Men properties., I don’t know where that would leave Gambit. But if this rumor has any teeth then it might be the final film produced before the two studios officially merge.