Movies With Butter

Please join us now in pouring one out for Taylor Kitsch, who has officially lost his status as the Gambit of the X-Men cinematic universe. According to producer Lauren Shuler Donner, the next time we see the character Collider refers to as "the chard-slinging Cajun," he'll be played by none other than Channing Tatum.

And unlike Kitsch, whose turn as Gambit was relegated to a supporting role in the generally awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tatum will be handed the reins at a relative high point in the X-Men series. According to Collider's report, which gathers together news from several sources -- including Total Film, where the story broke -- he'll be introduced in X-Men: Apocalypse, which is set to arrive in theaters on May 27, 2016, with a standalone feature to follow.

Donner, who'd previously said she was "dying to do a Gambit movie" starring Tatum, explained her enthusiasm to Total Film, saying, "Well you know he’s a rogue, Channing. He’s a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau, and he can handle the action, we all know that. He’s got a really good heart, because I know him personally, I did a movie with him. So I think he’ll be great, he’ll be great for Gambit, and he’s a southerner too, he’s not from New Orleans but he is a southerner and he understands that world, and you know Gambit loves New Orleans."

Kitsch's employment prospects aside, Tatum's an interesting choice for the role -- and Fox's willingness to test the standalone waters outside of Wolverine movies demonstrates its increased willingness to try and expand upon the box office prospects of its X-Men properties. As any comics fan knows, there are a ton of characters in those X-Men books, merely a fraction of which have graced the screen; if Gambit does well, we'll presumably be seeing a lot more of them in the years to come.

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