Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt has been chosen to bring the Channing Tatum-starring Gambit to life.
EW broke the news, announcing that Wyatt would be directing the X-Men character’s first solo film.
Robocop (2014) co-writer Joshua Zetumer has penned the screenplay for the film, which will see Tatum attached as both star and producer. Reid Carolin (Magic Mike), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and longtime X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner are also on board to produce.
Tatum will be playing Gambit, a mutant with the ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, thus making them explosive. The comics have often depicted him as a playing card-wielding, staff-carrying “ladies man”.
Taylor Kitsch previously played the character in Gavin Hood’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While Kitsch’s take wasn’t bad, the film itself failed to impress. Fingers crossed this imagining locks Gambit in as a worthy character for the X-Men film franchise.
Gambit is currently lined up for U.S. release on October 7, 2016.
