No, your eyes do not deceive you; Fox’s long-gestating Gambit spinoff is finally starting to put the wheels into motion.
From what we understand, the Powers That Be want to fast-track Remy LeBeau’s origin story before the Disney-Fox merger is fully consummated next summer, by which point the House of Mouse – and, more specifically, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige – will take ownership of the X-Men and Fox’s band of merry mutants from 2019 onwards.
That would make Gambit the final film in the X-Universe to release before 20th Century Fox cedes control of its precious entertainment assets, and according to producer Simon Kinberg, they’re hoping to kick things off early next year. Following up on a report just the other week which told us as much, the Dark Phoenix director spoke to IGN recently and confirmed the following:
“Gambit has a great script and we’re looking to start that movie early next year. “
Again, this falls in line with that earlier scoop from Omega Underground, who pegged the pic for a production start in February of 2019. What’s perhaps more interesting, though, is how Kinberg describes Gambit, calling it a romantic comedy.
“When you look at Gambit. he’s a hustler and a womanizer and we just felt like there was an attitude, a swagger to him, that lent itself to romantic comedy. Deadpool was an R-rated, raunchy comedy, Logan was a western, Gambit’s gonna be a romantic comedy, and New Mutants is very decidedly a horror film.”
Continuing on, the producer clarified that romantic comedy is a term he uses loosely, explaining that it’s just more the vibe that the film has.
“You know, when I say romantic comedy, I use that term loosely, in the same term that I use the term western for Logan loosely,” Kinberg said, “It’s not like they’re gunslingers at high noon in Logan. It’s just a vibe. And I would say the vibe of Gambit has a romantic or sex comedy vibe to it. While it is also still very much a superhero movie with villains and heroes, as all these movies are.”
While we have no reason to doubt the producer when he says that the pic’s gearing up for production, it’s important to remember that the project is still without a director. Although, that’s not for a lack of trying. Gambit‘s gone through at least three heavyweight helmers so far in the form of Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl).
That said, Kinberg’s comments regarding Gambit appear to be concrete and with any luck, things really will get off the ground this coming winter.