'X-Men' Spinoff 'Gambit' Scheduled for Valentine's Day 2019 Release

By Sheanne Aguila, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 17, 2017

20th Century Fox has revealed the premiere date for "Gambit."

The upcoming "X-Men" spinoff will officially hit the big screen on Feb. 14, 2019, according to reports. After losing two directors, the studio finally secured Gore Verbinski to helm the film. Starring as the titular character is Channing Tatum, who will also serve as a producer alongside Lauren Shuler Donner, Reid Carolin and Simon Kinberg.

Back in 2015, the "21 Jump Street" actor graced Fox's Comic-Con International panel to offer some updates about the new standalone movie. "We had a first draft; it was good," Tatum said in July (via Entertainment Weekly). "But I think that we were coming to sort of the end of that phase of it at a really interesting time, where these movies went through a bit of a paradigm shift ... So we were trying to do some things that we actually weren't allowed to do, and they just smashed down the doors, and now we're kind of giving it a rethink."

Gambit, also known as Remy LeBeau, is a superhero who has the ability to manipulate kinetic energy by using his mind. The New Orleans native's weapons include a deck of playing cards and a staff. Originally created by Jim Lee and Chris Claremont in 1990, Gambit made his first big screen appearance in the 2009 film, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The character was portrayed by Taylor Kitsch at the time.

Meanwhile, it seems that "Gambit" has already found its main villain. Omega Underground claims a source "with knowledge of Gambit's character lineup" revealed that Candra The Benefactress will be a part of the cast lineup for the film. While Fox has yet to confirm this, Candra aka Red Death controls two New Orleans mutant gangs, so it is possible that she will be an enemy to Gambit.

Aside from "Gambit," Fox is expanding its "X-Men" universe with three more movies for 2018. These include "New Mutants," which opens on April 13, "Deadpool 2" this coming June 1 and "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" on Nov. 2.