Until the Disney acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox is finalized, the studio required to continue working business as usual. And that means to continue working on developing and trying to get into production a number of projects as part of their X-Men comic book adaptation franchise.
Speaking with IGN, X-Men franchise writer and producer Simon Kinberg gave updates on a trio of X-Men related films in development. It remains to be seen if any of these trio of projects gets in front of cameras before the final i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed on the Disney deal, but if they do, Disney has stated that they would be committed to ensuring those films completion and release.
Gambit
A solo film featuring the mutant Cajun superhero Gambit has been in development for a long time. Although Channing Tatum has long been attached, the project has seen a number of writers and directors come and go, which has also led to a number of announced release dates not being met. But that hasn’t stopped the studio from continually working on the movie. Currently, although there has been no director announced, the studio is hoping to have cameras rolling in early 2109. And now Kinberg has revealed that the film may have a tone that some fans might not necessarily expect.
When you look at Gambit, he’s a hustler and a womanizer and we just felt like there was an attitude, a swagger to him, that lent itself to romantic comedy. You know, when I say romantic comedy, I use that term loosely, in the same term that I use the term western for Logan loosely. It’s not like they’re gunslingers at high noon in Logan. It’s just a vibe. And I would say the vibe of Gambit has a romantic or sex comedy vibe to it. While it is also still very much a superhero movie with villains and heroes, as all these movies are.
X-Force
The superhero team assembled by Deadpool in Deadpool 2 has long been looked at by Fox for a big screen adaptation since before the first Deadpool film hit theaters. Initially Cry Wolf (2005) director Jeff Wadlow was set to write and direct, though after he moved on it looked like Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds and The Grey director Joe Carnahan would be writing with Carnahan possibly directing. But in September of last year, it was announced that Cabin In The Woods writer/director Drew Goddard would be heading up the film. Kinberg reports that Goddard is still attached stating “we’re just waiting for Drew Goddard to be done with releasing his film [Bad Times At The El Royale] that comes out in a few weeks, and then he’ll get started on that script to direct.”
Multiple Man
As for the film that would see James Franco take on the role of the duplicating mutant Jamie Madrox, Kinberg did not have much to report outside of “that script’s being worked on right now.” At last report it was Wonder Woman screenwriter Allan Heinberg handling that chore. Much like Gambit, this project has no director attached, although it is possible that Franco could assign himself double duty here.
