Why X-Men Gambit Spin-Off Movie Never Happened

The comic book world has seen quite a few films grace the cinemas, but even more have been scrapped for one reason or another. An X-Men Gambit spin-off film is one that had great intentions, but just never panned out.

Gore Verbinski spoke to MovieWeb, and he revealed that there were issues with the script. They were ready to shoot right away, but then there was a stalling, one that caused other things to come up. 

“The script we never got to a place where everybody was in agreement. I mean, I got a call from the studio saying, ‘We have this project, ‘Gambit’, do you want to do it?’ And they had said, ‘It shoots right away.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know. Let me, think about it.’ And I forget what was happening. There was something schedule-wise where it was actually going to be maybe a good thing if it happened quickly. Then it was like, the script just didn’t get there. Then I had other stuff that was more important to me, and I think other people had other things. So it was like a short window where if it happened, it was going to happen immediately with a lot of urgency.”

Fox wanted another movie, but Fantastic Four burned them. They dropped the budget for the Gambit movie, and that caused a bit change of plans. The script then needed a heavy edit. Channing Tatum was attached, but even his great ideas couldn’t come to fruition.

“Fantastic Four came out, did not do very well for Fox, [and] they decided to lower our budget. We were 12 weeks out, we couldn’t recover. The script needed a huge amount of rewriting in order to fit that budget, and ultimately the powers that be chose not to go down that road, so the film didn’t happen. And then of course whatever happened after me with other directors, I have no idea. What I do know is that Channing Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin had an amazing idea of what that movie was going to be, and Josh Zeutemer, the writer, as well. It was terrific, it was a really exciting sort of Godfather with mutants set in the world of New Orleans with different gangs.”

We might see a Gambit spin-off of some sort. The X-Men are now in different hands, and they can appear alongside and Disney-owned property from the Avengers to Lilo and Stitch.