Twentieth Century Fox is finally showing Channing Tatum some love by giving Gambit a Valentine’s Day 2019 release date. Tatum first joined the X-Men world a few years back and has been working to get his solo film off the ground ever since. But, the project has continued to see directors leave, only recently finding a potential guiding hand with director Gore Verbinski. The positive moves come after months of Tatum saying the project was starting over in the wake of Deadpool and Logan’s success.

Whatever work has been done on the film since that point appears to be substantial. Not only is Verbinski’s hiring a good sign, but it has popped back up on production listings thanks to a familiar working title. That news comes at the perfect time with it getting an official release date.

Deadline revealed that Fox has given the Tatum superhero film a February 14, 2019 release. This will come three years after Deadpool made incredible amounts of money at the box office in a similar release window. With a release date now set and the announcement confirming Verbinski, expect a flurry of updates on the project in the coming weeks and months as they finalize a cast and prepare to begin production.

Getting a release date is good and all, but Gambit has been in this situation before. It was at one point dated for 2016 with Rupert Wyatt directing and even had Spectre’s Léa Seydoux lined up for the lead female role. That was at a very different point in Fox’s X-Men universe however, before seeing how they can break away from the conventional superhero movie formula and create exciting new films based on singular characters. Given the wave of momentum Gambit is currently riding, fans should be able to push aside any concerns that a similar series of events will unfold.

Gambit will be Fox’s fifth X-Men spinoff in this current direction to hit theaters. They’ve already released two successful standalone films as mentioned before, and 2018 shows plenty of promise already with New Mutants and Deadpool 2 set to hit theaters. The former is ready to drop its first trailer and the latter is entering the final days of production. With only X-Men: Dark Phoenix still filming (and still a year out from release), Gambit should receive a heavy focus from the studio in the pre-production world. As that attention continues, we will finally start to know what this film is going to be and who exactly will be involved.

Source: Deadline

  • New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28 Deadpool 2 Release Date: 2018-05-18 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07