‘Gambit’ Film Adaptation Suffers Delays, Script Rewrites; Channing Tatum Exits in Favor DC Extended Universe Role?

‘Gambit’ was delayed by Fox as the film adaptation undergoes major script rewrites. Channing Tatum, who was cast in the title role, is rumored to be dropping out of the film in favor of a possible role in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

According to Screen Crush, the upcoming standalone X-Men film was scheduled to begin production in June but has been delayed by Fox to give way to extensive script rewrites. Josh Zetumer prepared the original draft of the screenplay, which is currently undergoing revision under Reid Carolin.

It was reported that filming has been pushed back to a possible December date. This proved to be a considerable setback for the film’s original release date scheduled for October 2016. For the meantime, the film has been removed from Fox’s schedule of upcoming releases.

With the script undergoing rewrites, director Doug Liman may helm another project before shifting his attention back to the X-Men film Liman is in negotiations to direct a new psychological thriller entitled ‘The Wall’. It follows the story of an American sniper and his spotter pinned down by a legendary Iraqi sniper.

Channing Tatum and Lea Seydoux were set to star in Liman’s full-feature adaptation of ‘Gambit’ as main characters Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit and Bella Donna Bordeaux, respectively. However, it was speculated that Tatum may be dropping out of the project in favor of another one in the DCEU.

According to Movie Web, the rumor began with Rick Famuwiya following Tatum’s Twitter account along other DC-related accounts including Zack Snyder’s, Ben Affleck’s, Ray Fisher’s, Gal Gadot’s and Geoff John’s. This may not seem like a big deal but days after his social media activity, Famuwiya was announced as the new director for the upcoming DC film ‘The Flash’.

Although Tatum’s possible involvement in Famuwiya’s film is completely baseless, the chances of his departure remain high since he threatened to leave ‘Gambit’ numerous times before. However, this could be dismissed as pure speculation since it is highly unlikely that Tatum would be abandoning a film for which he is set to star and produce.

According to Screen Rant, the film is said to have a massive production budget of over $150 million. The numbers posted on The Louisiana Economic Development’s Fastlane website reflected an estimated cost of $154,975,309 but this is yet to be confirmed by Fox.

‘Gambit’ is an upcoming superhero film intended as a standalone film in the ‘X-Men’ cinematic series. It is directed by Doug Liman and produced by Reid Carolin, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner, and Channing Tatum.