Looks like we’ll all have to wait a bit longer for the Gambit movie to hit screens, as the Fox production has shut down and director Rupert Wyatt has left the flick.
I first got word of the Gambit problems on Tuesday from a source that I trust, but while waiting for confirmation, news broke across multiple sites more in touch with the gossip circles in H’wood. On Tuesday crews that were hired at the beginning of the month were told to go home, and that their services would not be needed until a future date. My source told me that the script rewrite was so much bigger and more expensive than the studio thought it would be, that the studio opted to push the starting date off until 2016.
This delay, in turn, has caused a scheduling conflict with director Rupert Wyatt, who has now had to drop out of the picture.
“I was very much looking forward to working with my friend Channing and the team at Fox, but regrettably a push in the start date now conflicts with another project,” Wyatt said in a statement. “I thank them for the opportunity and I know that Gambit will make a terrific film.”
While we have no word on the new director, or when the production is expected to resume, Gambit is still scheduled to arrive in theaters on October 7, 2016 – but I expect that date will shift in the near future.