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Gambit Postponed Into 2019 Because Fox Is Plotting A Heist Movie With “Heavy Comedic” Tone

Buried in THR's report about the Gambit delay was an intriguing, if brief explanation as to why Fox pushed its Remy LeBeau solo outing into 2019.

Looks like Remy LeBeau’s solo outing will skew towards comedy, after all.

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In light of Fox’s mutant shake-up, one which resulted in new release dates for Deadpool 2, The New Mutants and Gambit – for the record, X-Men: Dark Phoenix was unaffected by the changes, and is still due to take flight on November 2nd – The Hollywood Reporter (h/t CBM) has offered some insight into why Gambit was delayed in the first place. You know, aside from the fact that it just lost director Gore Verbinski to creative differences.

The Pirates of the Caribbean helmer now joins Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) on the list of directors who have flirted with, and subsequently passed up, the chance to spearhead Remy LeBeau’s origins story. Disappointing though that may be, THR notes that Gambit is “described as having a heavy comedic tone revolving around a heist, [and] will do better as a summer Marvel movie.” Color us intrigued.

Prior to yesterday’s switcheroo, 20th Century Fox had originally slated Gambit for a release on Valentine’s Day, 2019, where it joined The LEGO Movie 2 and the Silver and Black spinoff from Sony Pictures. However, a four-month delay now places the Channing Tatum-led actioner in summer blockbuster territory, as June 7th, 2019 is just a few short weeks after the launch of Marvel’s all-encompassing Avengers 4.

On paper, it certainly makes a lot of sense – a bright and breezy heist movie featuring Channing Tatum will surely fare better when it’s not associated with the most romantic weekend on the calendar. That being said, Tim Miller’s Deadpool movie performed just fine ($783 million) in the February corridor, so perhaps there’s more to this story than THR suggests? Besides, Gambit now faces the tricky conundrum of attracting a fourth director now that Verbinski has left the building.

The finished product is due in theaters on June 7th, 2019.