Creed II Originally Brought Back Apollo As A Ghost

Creed II Originally Brought Back Apollo As A Ghost

Creed II was about facing up to the ghosts of one's past, but it seems that at one point there may have been a plan to include an actual ghost. Dolph Lundgren recently revealed that in an early script of Creed II there was apparently a plan for the story to include Apollo Creed himself. Lundgren much prefers the decision to bring back another Rocky IV co-star, Brigitte Nielsen, instead. According to Lundgren...

It was a great idea I thought [to bring Nielsen back]. In the original first draft it was Apollo came back. Or like his ghost or something. It was a little hokey, you know. So I think it was much better to bring Brigitte back.

Unfortunately, Dolph Lundgren doesn't elaborate on his comments, which he made during a Q&A at Monster-Mania Con 42 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey over this past weekend. That means we have no idea exactly how this idea of Apollo Creed returning in Creed II was originally supposed to be handled.

Sylvester Stallone has recently stated that he now feels the decision to kill Apollo Creed in Rocky IV may have been the wrong one, if only because he so enjoyed working with actor Carl Weathers. Perhaps that led Stallone, who co-wrote the screenplay for Creed II, to try and find a way to include him.

Obviously, it seems unlikely that the actual plan had been to include Apollo Creed's ghost. Perhaps there would have been a dream sequence of some kind where either Rocky or Adonis Creed finds himself across from Apollo. Of course, just creating a "ghost" version of Apollo would have been one of the more complicated things in the movie. Creed II isn't exactly a visusal effects blockbuster but a lot of that would have been necessary to bring Apollo Creed back.

However you look at it, it feels awkward, which is probably why the scene never made it into the final film. Still, the desire to include Apollo, and Carl Weathers, in the movie in some way certainly makes sense. It's understandable that people would want to try. There's just no good way to do it.

And at the same time, if Apollo Creed doesn't die in Rocky IV, then Creed II, really the entire Creed franchise becomes an entirely different pair of films. Apollo's death in Rocky IV is one of the iconic moments of the entire series.

In the end, bringing Brigitte Nielsen back for Creed II was clearly something that was much easier to do. And it was certainly impactful as well. Nielsen's return helps put the story of Ivan Drago into a context that we never got to see in Rocky IV. It makes the villain of the earlier movie a much more sympathetic character in the sequel.

While bringing Apollo back in any way would have been a nice nod, it would not have meant as much to the actual story. And who knows. There's always Creed III.

Looks Like Dumbo May Struggle To Make A Profit For Disney

Looks Like Dumbo May Struggle To Make A Profit For Disney

Disney's live-action remakes have been a solid source of box office dollars for the studio. It's the reason we've been seeing so many of them in recent years. However, it's possible that we might be seeing the first crack in that armor, as Dumbo has certainly not been performing as expected, which could result in the film not making a profit for Disney, and certainly not making the sort of profit the studio is used to seeing.

Dumbo brought in less than $20 million over this past weekend, its second weekend in wide release. That's over a 60% drop from its opening weekend numbers. While it's fairly normal to see major blockbusters drop 60% or more from opening weekend, it's less usual for Disney family films. Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella both dropped less than 50% in their second weekend, Maleficent fell on slightly more than 50%.

Dumbo's domestic total is now at $76 million. With Laika's Missing Link, another movie with family appeal, as well as other tent pole releases on the way, it seems Dumbo may struggle to break the $100 million mark domestically. Previously, that goal seemed to be much more likely.

Globally, Dumbo is doing a little better, but still below expectations. The movie currently sits at $213 million which isn't the worst number in the world for a film with an estimated production budget of $170 million. That number doesn't include marketing costs, so the total budget for the film is probably somewhere around $200 million or more.

Even if Dumbo is able to pull out a bit of profit over the next few weeks, it looks like Dumbo will likely end its run on the bleeding edge of breaking even. It might lose a bit of money, though probably not much. It might end up making money, though probably not much.

Financially struggling is not the standard state for a Disney remake. While they don't always make $1 billion the way Beauty and Beast did, Disney's remakes tend to have no problem making money. They do this despite the fact that they don't all get glowing reviews, so the fact that Dumbo didn't blow over the critics likely isn't the reason it's not doing well.

Perhaps Dumbo went a little too deep into the Disney back catalog. It's the oldest of the animated features that Disney has remade and maybe the original story just didn't resonate with fans the way some of the more recent Disney classics have done.

If that's the case, it means things likely look brighter for the other two Disney remakes set for this year. Aladdin and The Lion King are both films from the 1990s and perhaps that means they're more likely to do Beauty and the Beast numbers.

Ironically, the original animated Dumbo was one of the studio's few success stories in an era of financial difficulties. The original movie was released during World War II when most overseas theatrical markets were closed to the studio. Pinocchio and Fantasia were both flops, but Dumbo somehow beat the odds and became a hit. Now, it looks like Dumbo might end up one of the low points on what will otherwise certainly be a huge box office year for Disney.

Emilia Clarke Admits She Regrets 'Stupid Action Movies' She's Filmed

Emilia Clarke Admits She Regrets 'Stupid Action Movies' She's Filmed

As the eight-season journey on Game of Thrones soon comes to an end, fans are certainly curious about where we will see our favorite stars next on the big screen. Jason Momoa certainly made waves as Aquaman after portraying Khal Drogo, and Sophie Turner is playing the titular role in the next installment of the X-Men franchise, Dark Phoenix. What about fan-favorites Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, a.k.a. Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington?

Emilia Clarke recently spoke with Variety about her time as a big screen actress thus far, and part of the discussion was about how her and co-star Kit Harington have bonded over their common career accomplishments… and mistakes. Said the actress,

Kit and I are counterparts in terms of experience. We are pretty much the same age, and our characters have had parallel journeys, and we as actors have had parallel journeys. We’ve both done stupid action movies we regret and fabulous things we’re proud of, and we’ve always come back to Thrones. And he’s the person I’d ask, ‘How are you handling this? Are you alright?’ We were in sync, even if we were filming on opposite sides of the world.

Their characters are connected in more way than one! The two actors have notably had some bad luck with their big budget action movie endeavors, and here Emilia Clarke admits to regretting them. Of course, Clarke notably played Sarah Connor in the 2015 failed reboot Terminator: Genisys, which in the past she has said she was “relieved” to see fail at the box office so she wouldn’t have to return for a sequel because “no one had a good time” making it.

Clarke also recently played Qi’ra in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was deemed the biggest disappointment for the franchise – though obviously nobody is placing any blame on the actress. The movie dealt with some problems during production, such as the replacement of Phil Lord and Chris Miller with Ron Howard in the midst of filming.

On Kit Harington’s end, the actor starred in 2014’s period volcano thriller Pompeii, which only made $117 million worldwide with a $100 million budget, and Seventh Son, which has comparative disappointing numbers with a $114 million worldwide take against a $95 million budget. These are reasons enough for the Game of Thrones stars to be apprehensive about starring in action movies, but luckily they had each other to talk out shared experiences, even though they were on completely different projects.

Looking ahead, Emilia Clarke is starring in a rom-com with Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding called Last Christmas, and in a crime-thriller titled Above Suspicion - neither of which are being made as tent-pole blockbusters. Kit Harington will next be seen on the big screen starring in the drama The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, which premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival and isn't currently set up with a domestic release date or distributor.

The actors will be the talk of the world when the premiere of Game of Thrones' six-episode final season premieres on April 14th, leading to an ending for their characters that Clarke said “fucked [her] up” and got Harington crying at a table read.

Anne Hathaway Used Stewie From Family Guy To Learn British Accent In The Hustle

Anne Hathaway Used Stewie From Family Guy To Learn British Accent In The Hustle

The Hustle stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson as a pair of competing con artists. It's actually the third version of the story that first began with 1964's Bedtime Story and was followed by 1988's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

In both of the previous iteration, the part of the high class con artist was played by a British actor, David Niven in the original, and Michael Caine in the first remake. In the new movie, American Hathaway has the role, but she plays a British character, which meant she needed to put on an accent.

The actress says she wasn't all that excited about the accent because she was afraid of doing it badly, but then she hit on an idea. What if the accent wasn't real, even within the story? Hathaway says she found influences for her accent in many places, but most strangely, Seth MacFarlane's performance as Stewie on Family Guy. According to Hathaway...

I thought, 'OK, maybe my character isn't necessarily British.’ She's a con woman. Maybe she's just decided that she's British and she sounds British. So I thought, 'What would be her main influences.' I really love Joanna Lumley from Absolutely Fabulous and it would've been such a shame not to put a little Julie Andrews in there, so I put a little Julie Andrews in there. But mainly it was Stewie from Family Guy.

A bad accent in movies is one of those things that tends to get actors raked over the coals when they're bad so it's not shocking, and a little refreshing, that Anne Hathaway was concerned about that from the beginning. She tells GMA that she didn't want to use an accent at all, but director Chris Addison insisted on it.

The idea that the accent in The Hustle might be fake, as the character Josephine Chesterfield is a con artist who might want people to believe she's British when that's not the case, is an interesting idea. It also, not coincidentally I'm guessing, gives the actress an out if people tell her the accent isn't very good.

However, Anne Hathaway says that the British press are actually complimenting her accent, so apparently it all worked out.

It's certainly not shocking that Julie Andrews was an influence on Anne Hathaway's accent. The two have been co-stars before after all. The Family Guy connection is, of course, a little bit more bizarre. Although, since Seth MacFarlane isn't British either, using a fake accent to create your own fake accent maybe makes a bit more sense.

Check out Anne Hathaway's complete comments in the clip below.

Anne Hathaway's accent may be great, but it may not be enough to save the film, It's being hammered by critics at the moment. We'll have to wait and see how it fairs at the box office.

John Wick Director Reveals How Brandon Lee’s Death From The Crow Impacted The Franchise

John Wick Director Reveals How Brandon Lee’s Death From The Crow Impacted The Franchise

There are few stories in Hollywood as tragic as the death of Brandon Lee. The young actor was filming the movie The Crow in 1993 when a problem with a prop gun caused him to be shot by a squib load. Lee would die from his wound. Most of the production on The Crow had been completed and so what filming remained had Lee's stunt double stand in for him. That stunt double was named Chad Stahelski, and he would go on to direct movies of his own, like the John Wick franchise.

Chad Stahelski had been friends with Brandon Lee before making The Crow, and so the death certainly had an impact on him. He doesn't blame anybody specifically for the accident, saying that it was a combination of several small mistakes, rather than an individual screw up. According to Stahelski...

Brandon’s accident was a lot of little dumb things that got by, but it’s groupthink. All the people involved were very, very smart. You just get tired, you make one little mistake, it compounds.

There's an interesting irony in the fact that both The Crow and the first John Wick movie are about characters who act as avenging angels punishing those that did them wrong.

While it's been 25 years since Brandon Lee's death, the event still has had reverberations through Hollywood. Stahelski's own John Wick movies use a lot of guns, and thus safety is a major concern in order to be sure nothing like what happened to Lee happens again. According to the director's comments to Yahoo, a lot of the safety protocols that are in use today exist because of the accident.

You know where that leads to? John Wick is 90% guns, firearms. A lot of the safety or the methodology we use, it came about because of that accident. It’s retroactive, which sucks, it’s like most fucking things in life. No one wants to change anything until something bad happens. But I know a great deal about that story, and there’s no one thing that you could point a finger at, it was a lot of little dumb mistakes that shouldn’t have happened.

Brandon Lee clearly had talent and a lot of promise and a wonderful career in front of him when this terrible random act took all that away. The Crow was evidence of that if nothing else.

There's been an ongoing attempt to remake The Crow in recent years but the project has been perpetually stalled for one reason or another. The original film's tragic history is clearly part of the reason many fans are against the concept of a remake. Whatever actor tries to take on that role has huge shoes to fill.

I can't help but notice that if Brandon Lee were still with us he'd be the same age as Keanu Reeves. Someplace there's an alternate universe where Chad Stahelski is directing his friend Brandon Lee in the John Wick franchise, and the third entry is about to hit theaters.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum opens tonight.

Toy Story 4: What We Know So Far

Toy Story 4: What We Know So Far

At the end of Toy Story 3, it truly looked like the story of Woody, Buzz and the gang was at an end. We had seen a complete life cycle of the toys from cherished playthings to discarded objects. Then we got to see the toys begin a new life with a new child, where we knew the cycle would repeat. But the folks at Pixar thought there was more to be explored in the world of playthings, and so they begin preparations for Toy Story 4.

While the wait continues for the Pixar sequel to make its way to theaters, it's never too early to start collecting all the information available about the project. And there's a decent amount of info that has been revealed. Before we get to all the details, let's check our the first trailer.

Surprisingly, the first trailer, while it shows us our favorite characters, seems to focus on an entirely new one. What does that mean for the new film? Let's get into it.

When Will Toy Story 4 Be Released?

Pixar did some shuffling with regards to a couple of its most hotly anticipated sequels, and, unfortunately, this meant that Toy Story 4 was pushed back a bit. The original proposed release date, June 15, 2018, was eventually given over to The Incredibles 2. This left Toy Story 4 with the release date of June 21, 2019. So, while we have to wait a bit longer for the new project, it's now less than a year away.

What Is The Toy Story 4 Rating?

It's way too early for an official rating on Toy Story 4, seeing as how films don't get their ratings until a few weeks before release. But, judging by the earlier films in the series, Toy Story 4 will likely have a G rating, since that's what each of the previous films have had.

The Director

John Lasseter is the former Chief Creative Officer for both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation as a whole. He also personally directed the first two Toy Story films himself. Originally, he had planned to direct Toy Story 4, after stepping aside for Lee Unkrich for Toy Story 3. However, at Disney's D23 Expo in 2017, Lasseter revealed that he would be stepping down as director of the project and that his co-director Josh Cooley, would take on the project entirely.

Originally, John Lasseter claimed that he would still be keeping a close eye on Toy Story 4, however, that was before he took a leave of absence following allegations of misconduct. It has now been announced that Lasseter will be leaving Pixar entirely at the end of 2018 so he won't be around when Toy Story 4 is finally released.

The Writer

The screenplay for Toy Story 4 was originally set to come from the writing team of Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. Previously, the two teamed up to write the indie film Celeste and Jesse Forever. Both are probably better known for their acting than their writing at this point, but both are multitalented stars. However, the pair left the project sometime in 2017 due to "creative and philosophical differences" regarding Pixar's apparent culture.

The current script for Toy Story 4 is being worked on by Stephany Folsom who has written unproduced films that have made the Black List, as well uncredited work on Thor: Ragnarok. It's unclear at this point if she started work on something entirely original or started with whatever Rashida Jones and Will McCormack left behind.

The Story

While the screenplay writer may be relatively new to this whole thing, she's being given the best possible story to work with. The script will be based on a story by four of Pixar's titans: John Lasseter, Inside Out director Pete Docter, WALL-E director Andrew Stanton, and Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich. With a team like that involved, we have to just assume the story is amazing. Though one assumes Lasseter's input is being greatly reduced.

Now the details of what's actually in the story is a little vaguer. What we do know is that the film will be something of a love story focusing on the characters of Woody and Bo Beep. A comment is made in Toy Story 3 that Bo was either lost or given away somewhere between the second and third films, so the plot will apparently be focused on Woody's attempts to reunite with his old flame.

However, there will apparently be more to the story than that. With new characters like Forky, Ducky, and Bunny, who we'll get into in a minute, it also appears the movie will be dealing with questions of identity. What does it mean to be a toy? What does it mean to be a toy that doesn't spend its life being loved?

Woody

There are two toys that you can't really make a Toy Story movie without, and one of them is Sheriff Woody. Since the plot of the film that has been referenced includes our favorite cowboy, then we feel confident to say that he'll be there. Tom Hanks has admitted he will be in the film - something which has gotten him in a bit of trouble with the Disney legal team for speaking before he was supposed to. More recently Hanks has told that the end of Toy Story 4 is going to be an emotional experience.

Buzz Lightyear

When Pixar officially announced Toy Story 4, the only character mentioned by name besides Woody was, of course, Buzz Lightyear. The Space Ranger voiced by Tim Allen is the other half of the duo that has been the centerpiece of every previous Toy Story movie, and not including him would be like forgetting to add marshmallows to your hot chocolate.

We have no idea how Buzz will fit into the overall story, besides, we assume, helping his best friend find the woman he loves. But, we'd also expect romance to progress for him as well. He's had something going on with the cowgirl Jessie for a while now. By the time Toy Story 4 comes along, we wouldn't be surprised if the two have a little Dream House together someplace.

Bo Peep

We haven't seen Bo Beep since Toy Story 2, so exactly what happened to her is anybody's guess. In Toy Story 3 it's mentioned that Bo Peep along with other toys like Etch and Weezy have "gone on to new owners" via either a yard sale or a spring cleaning. At some point, Andy decided he didn't want the porcelain doll anymore, and let her go off someplace else.

What seems clear in Toy Story 4 is that at some point Woody gets wind of where Bo Peep is, and then resolves to go after her. We assume the rest of the toys aid him on his quest, and then shenanigans ensue. Bo Peep has been a minor character, even in the films that she's been in. While the plot puts her at the center it doesn't mean she'll have a large part. However, Annie Potts, who has confirmed she will return to voice Bo Peep, says she's done a lot of work for the new film, which would seem to imply she'll have a large role. Though some of the work she's had to do has revolved around rerecording lines due to the change in the story.

Jessie

When we last saw Jessie in Toy Story 3, she and Buzz were flamenco dancing their way into our hearts. As mentioned earlier, she definitely has something going on with Buzz -- thought she also has a history with Woody, as they both come from the same series of toys. You know she'll be willing to do whatever it takes to help out Woody on his quest, though that surely will make her think about her own romantic entanglements.

As the "female lead" of the Toy Story franchise, we would expect Jesse will continue to play a major part in Toy Story 4. Jessie has been voiced by Joan Cusack ever since she was introduced in Toy Story 2, and we expect she'll back along with the rest of the gang.

Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head

In a Toy Story movie about love and romance, we can't ignore the first couple of the franchise: Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head. Unfortunately, this is also where the news gets a little sad. Don Rickles, the voice of Mr. Potato Head, passed away in 2017 and, according to reports, never had a chance to record any dialogue for Toy Story 4. There are a few ways Pixar could handle this. First, they simply hire a new actor to replace Rickles. It's what they did when Jim Varney died, so there's precedent. However, Rickles' voice is a bit more iconic, so it's hard to see them doing that. The other obvious solution is to simply write Mr. Potato Head out of the film and simply not have him appear. Though that would likely mean Mrs. Potato Head, and voice Estelle Harris, would vanish with him.

There is, however, a third option. When Cars 3 wanted to bring back characters whose voice actors had passed away, they didn't let death stop them. Both Paul Newman and Tom Magliozzi appeared in Cars 3 via the use of both previously recorded, unused, material, as well as the use of unrelated performances, in order to create the voice tracks they needed. If Don Rickles' estate gives Pixar the ok, something like that could potentially be done here as well.

Andy & Bonnie

The end of Toy Story 3 gave us the passing of the torch. College bound Andy gave up his childhood toys to young Bonnie, a little girl who would love them and enjoy playing with them just as he had for so many years.

In the years since Toy Story 3, we have had a number of opportunities to see how the toys have been doing in Bonnie's care. There have been several cartoon shorts running before recent Pixar movies as well as a couple of TV specials -- including the Halloween-themed Toy Story of Terror and the Christmas-themed Toy Story that Time Forgot. Bonnie has continued to care very deeply for all of her toys, and we fully expect that they will still be in Bonnie's care in Toy Story 4. As the movie does not appear to really be about the relationship with the owners, any major changes in Bonnie would likely take away from the story they're trying to tell. It's possible a few years will have passed since the last movie, but not enough to push Bonnie out of her toy playing age.

For the same reasons that we expect to see Bonnie, it's unlikely that we'll see or hear much of Andy in the movie. It's possible we might get some glimpses of him if the movie contains any flashback sequences to give us specific details on what happened to Bo Peep, but we wouldn't expect much more than that.

The Rest Of The Toy Gang

Little official has been stated regarding most of the supporting characters we can expect to see in Toy Story 4, but based on what we've seen in the past, and some comments from Pixar's Pete Doctor, we can expect most, if not all, of the usual suspects to return.

Trixie: There is one additional character that we can confirm is returning, and that's Trixie. The triceratops voiced by comedian Kristen Schaal was a major focus of the Christmas special Toy Story that Time Forgot, which was the last time that we saw the toys in action. It makes sense that she'll be back.

Ham: John Ratzenberger is the official Pixar good luck charm. He's voiced a character in every Pixar feature since the beginning. Even if Ham only shows up as a cameo, it's essentially a guarantee that he'll be there, if not just so that the movie can give the former Cheers star more work.

Rex: The plastic T. Rex voiced by the great Wallace Shawn has been around from the beginning and there's no reason to expect that he's going anywhere.

Slinky Dog: Blake Clark took over the voice of Slinky Dog from the late Jim Varney for Toy Story 3. Since the character didn't fade away when we lost the actor, we don't expect he will now.

Mr. Pricklepants: Timothy Dalton voiced the stuffed porcupine with dreams of the Shakespearean stage for the first time in Toy Story 3. He's been an entertaining side character in the shorts and TV specials so he'll likely be back as well.

Ken and Barbie: While Ken and Barbie are currently ruling the roost at the Sunnyside Daycare center, it doesn't mean we won't see them again (given that Bonnie may still be spending some time there). Both of them made an appearance in the animated short Hawaiian Vacation and Michael Keaton's turn as Ken is the real reason that he's back amongst the Hollywood elite, as far as we're concerned.

In addition to the returning characters, we've also been introduced to a few brand new toys who will play a role in the new film.

Forky

The first trailer for Toy Story 4 introduced us to Forky. He a spork who has been turned into a toy thanks to pipe cleaners and hot glue. The description of the character that came along with the first trailer describes him as somebody have a crisis of identity. Toy's in the Toy Story universe believe they exist to be played with by children, but Forky insists he's not a toy. He wants to fulfill his purpose as a spork, but it now expected to be a toy. It seems that questions of identity will be key to the new film.

Ducky & Bunny

Following the release of the first Toy Story 4 trailer, we got a "reaction video starring Ducky and Bunny. The two stuffed animals are a pair of carnival game prizes who are looking to be won but will apparently have that goal interrupted by Buzz, Woody, and the gang. The two will then apparently join our team for their adventure, but it seems they might feel like outcasts as the other toys can't relate to Ducky and Bunny and what it means to be a toy stuck to a prize wall. It sounds as if our favorite Toy Story toys may be the recipients of a sort of privilege that they didn't realize they had.

The Villain

Toy Story villains have been both humans and toys in the past. The first movie didn't really have a villain to speak of. While Sid, the boy who liked to torture toys, was certainly villainous, he was more of an obstacle to be overcome than a direct antagonist.

Toy Story 2 saw the dual villains of Stinky Pete, the toy who had grown old and dark after years of being overlooked, and Al, the owner of Al's Toy Barn, who steals Woody from Andy's house during a yard sale because he knows the old toy's value.

The last film gave us the evilest of the villains in the series, Lotso The Bear, who smells like strawberries, but absolutely hates children -- which is not the greatest personality trait for a toy.

We would guess, based on the premise of the new movie, that we probably won't have a straight-up villain, with Toy Story 4 having a structure similar to the first movie. The conflict will likely come from the obstacles that Woody needs to overcome in order to reach Bo Peep. There may be some people, either humans or toys, that stand in the way of that, be it Bo Peep's new owner, or a new toy from wherever Bo Beep is located who doesn't want to let her go. It's not too far of a stretch to believe that Beep has turned other heads in whatever place she has ended up in, so Woody may have a new boyfriend of hers with which he has to contend.

Fantastic Four’s Box Office Bomb Contributed To Gambit’s Delays

Fantastic Four’s Box Office Bomb Contributed To Gambit’s Delays

Before superhero movies were everywhere, 20th Century Fox and Bryan Singer brought X-Men to theaters back in the year 2000. That franchise is still going strong today, with Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants set to arrive in theaters, despite Fox's upcoming merger with Disney. But Fox has had some missteps along the way, including Josh Trank's already infamous Fantastic Four movie. The comic book adaptation was a critical and financial flop, barely recouping its budget while being panned by audiences and critics alike.

While Fox has let the Deadpool franchise flourish and continued the main X-Men franchise, there is a certain flick that has sat in development hell for years: Channing Tatum's Gambit movie. The fan favorite character's solo movie has been pushed back a number of times, and the Fox/Disney merger makes its fate all the more precarious. Rupert Wyatt was poised to direct the project at one point, but he recently revealed that the failure of The Fantastic Four negatively affected the film's potential budget. As he put it:

I was very close with Channing Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin, and I was on the script with him and Josh Zetumer as a writer. We were close, I believe 10 weeks away. It simply came down to budget. There was not enough. You know all too well about the politics of the business. Fantastic Four had been released by Fox a month before and had not gone well for them, so our budget was slashed quite considerably.

Superhero movies may be the most profitable genre in the film world, but they also require the biggest budgets. As such, each new release is a major gamble. Fantastic Four failed to perform at the box office, so it seems Fox kept its purse strings a bit tighter, and didn't want to give Gambit the same type of cash money. Poor Remy Lebeau.

Rupert Wyatt's comments to Comics Beat help to illuminate the myriad delays that have hit Gambit since the potential blockbuster was announced. Channing Tatum has been signed to the project since May of 2014, so moviegoers have been waiting quite a bit of time for the fan favorite X-Man to reappear on the silver screen. Wyatt isn't the only director who has been attached to the project, as Doug Liman also left due to script concerns. The script was presumably being worked on, before the project's development was put officially on hold.

It's unclear if Disney has any interest in bringing Gambit into the MCU, with the House of Mouse expected to acquire the rival studio in a matter of weeks. This puts the fate of Gambit up in the air, as well as where/when exactly The New Mutants will be completed and released. This is a series of events the public has grown accustomed to, although The Fantastic Four's affect on Gambit's budget is an interesting development in the potential film's story.

Gambit has been delayed for years, with three different directors brought on, before eventually departing the ill-fated blockbuster. In addition to Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman, The Ring director Gore Verbinski was the most recent addition to the trio. Verbinski was set to direct Channing Tatum when Gambit was going to get a December 14th, 2019 release date. The project would be somewhat romantic comedy inspired, and the casting process had even began before Verbinski departed Gambit due to scheduling and creative differences.

From there, Gambit's fate remained unclear. The project got pushed back a number of times since then, although Channing Tatum seemed determined to play the New Orleans mutant one way or another. Most recently, reports indicated Tatum had interest in both directing and starring in the project. Unfortunately, the news stopped there, as Fox's potential projects were put on hold due to the company's impending merger with Disney.

Gambit might never make it to theaters, which will no doubt be a point of contention with the rabid comic book fandom. Gambit became a household name due to the X-Men animated series, and his generations of fans are eager to see the card thrower on the big screen.

Of course, Gambit did appear in live-action once before, although it's a memory the fandom is likely trying to forget. Taylor Kitsch played Remy LeBeau in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the first spinoff in the X-Men franchise. While playing a supporting role and aligning with Hugh Jackman's Logan, the character (and movie) wasn't received well by the fans. As such, Channing Tatum's possible movie offers a welcomed alternative to that characterization. If it ever makes it to theaters, that is.

Overall, it's unclear exactly what Disney is planning to do with Fox's X-Men franchise, once the merger is finalized at last. While the House of Mouse will likely let Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool franchise operate independently, the rest of the mutants likely won't fare the same. Comic fans are eager to see the X-Men finally appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it seems unlikely that the same cast will be brought onto the payroll. Dark Phoenix has the potential to be the final installment in the long-running franchise, so potential projects like Gambit are probably the least of the studio's concerns at the moment.

Still, a superhero movie starring Channing Tatum as a fan favorite hero seems like money in the bank, who Disney might end up getting yet another director and moving forward with Gambit. Focusing on one X-Man at a time may help ease them into the MCU, rather than bringing an entire team of characters to an already crowded shared universe. At this point, it's anyone's guess.

Comic book fans are also hoping the Fantastic Four will get their own reboot within the MCU, as that's another team that has been noticeably missing from the larger shared universe. But considering how recently Josh Trank's version was in theaters, it may take moviegoers more time to get the taste of that flop out of their mouths.

The next installment in Fox's X-Men franchise will be Dark Phoenix on June 7th, and Gambit's release date was last set on March 13th, 2020. Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.