Gambit was supposed to be released in October, but the movie faced a serious delay when director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) parted ways with Fox over creative differences. Things soon started looking up for the Marvel Comics adaptation when Edge of Tomorrow‘s Doug Liman was hired to take over, but now the movie has been dealt yet another blow.
That’s because the filmmaker has signed up to take the helm of post-apocalyptic YA thriller Chaos Walking, a 2008 novel by Patrick Ness which has been adapted by Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) and is officially described as follows:
Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown. But Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Or are there? Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. Prentisstown has been lying to him. And now he’s going to have to run…
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, while this may be good news for YA fans, Gambit supporters likely have something to worry about. Choas Walking is set to begin shooting early next year once Liman finishes his current project, The Wall, which stars Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s Aaron Taylor-Johnson. As a result, it’s pretty clear that the director won’t be able to helm Gambit at any point in the near future.
The film is clearly not a priority for Liman anyway, especially as the soonest it could probably be released is late 2017/early 2018. Fox waiting that long seems doubtful, so it now remains to be seen whether or not they’ll look for a new director or if the project is just going to be scrapped amid rumours that star Channing Tatum is eyeing a role in the DC Films Universe.
Time will tell on that front, but for now, it seems like Gambit will remain stuck in development hell.
