X-Men Spin-Off Gambit, Starring Channing Tatum, Gets Valentine’s 2019 Release Date

We had our doubts about this Channing Tatum Gambit movie coming to fruition, but it looks like the project will see the light of day, per Deadline. The movie, directed by Gore Verbinski (A Cure for Wellness, the first three Pirates of the Carribbean films), will release on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14) of 2019—because nothing says romance like a bo staff-wielding Cajun throwing exploding playing cards.

Gambit was first portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in the poorly conceived and not well-received X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Regular X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner first announced the Tatum-starring project in 2014, but the production has hit several bumps on its long road. Directors such as Rupert Wyatt (The Gambler, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Doug Liman (American Made, Edge of Tomorrow) were attached before dropping out.

With the success of movies in the franchise like Deadpool and Logan, hopes for a standalone Gambit movie remained. The film has a screenwriter in Josh Zetumer (Patriots Day, the 2014 RoboCop remake), and will be produced by Tatum, Reid Carolin, Donner and another X-Men regular, Simon Kinberg.

Next up in the Marvel-Fox pipeline is New Mutants, Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix, with an X-Force movie also in development.