The Gambit production budget is reportedly $155 million, with filming on the X-Men spinoff set to begin in New Orleans next March. Like Deadpool before it, Gambit has spent years in development and suffered a number of set backs. The lead character of both films was introduced in X-Men Origins: Wolverine to less than stellar results, but they've each benefitted from a big name actor championing them. Even before the breakout success of Deadpool, Gambit was in the works with star Channing Tatum - though the film has suffered multiple setbacks since then.
After a rocky couple of years, Gambit secured director Gore Verbinki and seems revitalized following a script rewrite. With a February 2019 release date locked down and production set to begin next spring, Fox and Tatum's X-Men project is on the verge of finally becoming a reality. It remains to be seen how the movie is impacted by last week's game-changing Disney/Fox merger, but for now Gambit appears to be on the cusp of rolling camera at last.
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The Times-Picayune (via Omega Underground) is reporting that Gambit will begin production next March in New Orleans. The film will shoot for 70 days in the city (among other locations) and is expected to have a budget of $155 million. The uncertainty over the budget comes from the last filing with the city being in 2015, back when the film was in a very different place. There's no telling what's changed since then, so the final budget for the movie could end up being different.
In terms of budget, Gambit is in line with most modern superhero origin movies. The film will be just above Ant-Man ($130M) and Wonder Woman ($149M), but just below Doctor Strange ($165M) and Spider-Man: Homecoming ($175M). As for its fellow Fox solo films, Gambit will be a long way from Logan's budget of $97M and Deadpool's $58M. The movie will lack the name recognition of Spider-Man and Wonder Woman and the Marvel Studios name that helped Ant-Man and Doctor Strange become household names upon release, so it's possible the budget will ultimately hue closer to Deadpool and Logan.
Given Deadpool's popularity as a character and Hugh Jackman's many years as Wolverine, it would be odd for Fox would commit such a sizable budget to a relatively obscure character like Gambit. What's more, Gambit and his backstory hardly lend themselves to a massive blockbuster. While Remy's mutants powers will certainly take more work than those of Deadpool or Wolverine, it's unclear where the rest of the money will be going, assuming the $155M number is accurate.
Gambit has been described as a heist film, which further points to the movie being a smaller-scale affair along the lines of Ant-Man. It could be that the original plan was for a more blockbuster film with a budget to match, and perhaps the reworking of the film over the past two years will lead to a smaller budget in the end. If nothing else, we might yet get to see an exquisite looking small-stakes film with intricate sets and spectacular visual effects. With Gambit starting production in just a few months, we won't have to wait much longer to find out.
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Source: The Times-Picayune (via Omega Underground)
