With “Gambit” losing director Gore Verbinski, it has caused a volley of dominoes to fall at 20th Century Fox as they reshuffle their superhero deck of release dates.
The biggest casualty of sorts is “New Mutants,” which moves from a previously scheduled April 13th date all the way to the former “Gambit” slot of February 14, 2019. So does that mean trouble for the movie? I kinda doubt it. The film was already working on a ridiculously tight turnaround, with filming only beginning last July. The new date arguably gives director Josh Boone more time to fine tune his picture, and for Fox to market it. The movie is said to ride a horror vibe and early winter — where edgier superhero efforts like “Deadpool” and “Logan” did great numbers — is probably a better place for it.
Meanwhile, the studio is giving “Deadpool 2” more room play, moving the movie up to May 18th, one week before “Solo: A Star Wars Story” is scheduled to open. Well, that’s if the movie opens, but with four months to go, and still no trailer or promotional stills, it’s looking increasingly likely that Disney is going to push ‘Solo’ back.
Lastly, Fox has rescheduled “Gambit” — again — for June 7, 2019 but we’re not holding our breath that it will stick.