Earlier this week, there was a report that Channing Tatum was pulling out of the X-Men spinoff film, Gambit despite several years of personally lobbying for the movie to happen. There was even speculation that the entire Gambit film could be canceled because of Tatum’s departure.
But now, “everyone can relax… Gambit has arrived.”
Tatum has closed his deal with Fox to portray the title character in Gambit. It seems that there was some truth to the report that Tatum and Fox hit a rough patch in negotiations. The sticking points appear to have been Tatum’s backend compensation and the length of his tenure as Gambit. Fox is said to view Gambit as “one of the anchor characters of the X-universe, akin to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, someone who would anchor his own movies and appear in numerous others.” That’s a commitment that could last a decade or more.