Get ready for movie theaters to mutate in 2016. Twentieth Century Fox announced today that three X-Men films will be released that year. Yes, it’s true, fan favorite Gambit will officially be getting his own spin-off movie, joining the recently announced Deadpool film and X-Men: Apocalypse for 2016. This count will be higher than Disney/Marvel, DC/Warner Bros., and Sony’s film count.
The long-rumored Channing Tatum will officially be playing the Louisiana-based mutant, whose real name is Remy LeBeau. Gambit possesses the power of controlling kinetic and potential energy through touch. He uses a deck of cards and a staff as his most notable weapons, “charging” them up to explode. He also possesses some telepathic powers to charm people.
We first saw a cinematic representation of Gambit in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, then played by Taylor Kitsch. However, with Bryan Singer’s recent X-Men: Days of Future Past retconning all prior X-Men films other than X-Men: First Class and Tatum replacing Kitsch, it’s clear Fox is moving ahead with a clean slate.
Fans weren’t happy with Gambit’s prior film appearance (especially when it disregarded his notable Cajun accent) so hopefully this will be better received. Yet fans are also split on Channing Tatum in the role.
Regardless of fan opinion, a Gambit film is happening with a script being penned by Joshua Zetumer (RoboCop), based on a treatment by Chris Claremont.
So get ready for your dose of mutants with this line-up of upcoming X-Men films:
» Deadpool – February 12, 2016
» X-Men: Apocalypse – May 27, 2016
» Gambit – October 7, 2016
» Wolverine 3 – March 3, 2017
» Untitled X-Men Movie – July 13, 2018
We predict we’ll see both Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Channing Tatum’s Gambit in X-Men: Apocalypse, which is currently slated to be the franchise’s biggest film yet.
What do you think of this news? Are you excited for a Gambit film with Channing Tatum as the titular character? Let us know in the comments!