Disney has officially shelved the Channing Tatum Gambit movie. Word of a Gambit movie started circulating Hollywood about five years ago, and before long, Tatum was the actor tapped to star in the title role and the actor was genuinely excited about the prospect of bringing a Gambit solo movie to the big screen.
One of the last updates X-Men fans got about the Gambit movie, though, seemed like bad news. Fox, which owned the film rights for the X-Men franchise, delayed several of its big films including Alita and Dark Phoenix. Another movie delay was Gambit, which got moved to March 13, 2020. This wasn't the first time Fox delayed the movie, and it seemed like it might not ever actually happen. Things began to change for all the X-Men properties, though, when Disney acquired Fox's film and TV assets, which would bring the X-Men back into the Marvel Studios fold. Many industry professionals began to believe that this could change any future X-Men movies going forward, but no one seemed to know how. In January, reports began circulating that both the X-Force and Gambit movies would end up getting shelved.
Those reports were correct: Disney has officially decided to shelve the solo Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum. This is according to the latest release schedule by the company, which doesn't include the film in its list of releases through 2027. The list does include many untitled Disney live-action movies, along with the Avatar sequels. There are also three untitled Star Wars movies on the schedule. Gambit, though, is nowhere to be seen.
Although X-Men fans might be disappointed at the news, none will be more disappointed than Tatum himself. The actor often spoke about his excitement at the chance to bring Gambit to life and even spent time thinking about the critical details of the character, including his Cajun accent. At one point, it also seemed like Tatum would direct the movie in an attempt to get it off the ground faster.
However, it seems that Disney has no interest in bringing the Ragin' Cajun to the screen. It's unclear what plans Disney has for the X-Men franchise now that it falls under its studio. It seems that for the near future, Disney isn't interested in any of the X-Men characters at all and will keep most of its focus on its upcoming Marvel projects as the Marvel Cinematic Universe moves into Phase 4. For those fans who wanted to see the X-Men fighting alongside the Avengers, it looks like that might not happen anytime soon. And for Gambit fans, it seems that fans are just out of luck.
Source: Disney