Will’s Unpopular Opinion – 52 Card Pick-up – 3-30-16

 It was recently reported that Fox’s latest piece of X-men cinematic lore, ‘Gambit’, was put on hiatus until sometime later this fall, when it would officially begin filming; aiming for a 2017 summer release. The movie has been in and out of development hell since 2014 when it was announced, with rumors spinning in and out about cancellations, casting, and most importantly, fan appeal. At one time ‘Gambit’ was even slated for a 2016 release date alongside it’s X-brethren, ‘Deadpool’ and ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’; both currently appearing on the big screen only 6 months apart. If it wasn’t challenging enough to release a film in succession with other X-flicks that don’t directly correlate cinematically; imagine entering into the circus that summer 16′ has become, against heavy hitters like: Sony, WB, Paramount and Marvel. Not only is timing a concern, but the issue of market awareness aswell. ‘Deadpool’ was a massive success and ‘Batman v Superman’ may be the biggest disappointment for a super-hero movie ever made. I’d like to see the crystal ball that could have predicted that.

Fox has gone on record to say that ‘Gambit’ has been held up due to script issues and is currently undergoing rewrites. The question remains, how is this possible when the studio was literally just about to start shooting only weeks from the news of their postponement?  The answer is, it’s possible when the current market becomes so volatile and ever changing, you need to cease and reassess your product and marketing strategy to keep up with the mainstream traffic. Perhaps Fox is now reconsidering their approach for their clandestine card-shark as the already questionable appeal and interest for the movie is weaning and was indecisively trepidatious to begin with. The issue becomes, that no one has asked for a Gambit movie. Story-wise it’s a difficult nut to crack, trying to shoehorn him into the current X-verse continuity. The last time he was seen on the big screen, he was portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in ‘Wolverine: X-men Origins’, to less than enthusiastic reviews. And last I checked, Fox hasn’t exactly been known for reviving it’s Marvel characters too well. But that doesn’t mean this movie will be an instant dud…does it?

“The issue becomes, that no one asked for a Gambit movie.”

‘Deadpool’ seemingly came out of nowhere and was a movie built primarily on hype and marketing in a very audacious way. You couldn’t drive down the street without seeing one of numerous scandalous billboards with Deadpool’s vacant white eyes leering your way, insinuating he was smirking at you under his red mask. The movie itself (as formulaic as it was) only had to deliver on the promise of appearing to be new and unique. The marketing took care of the rest. ‘Batman v Superman’ had a similar type problem with it’s marketing, (almost in the complete reverse of ‘Deadpool’) in the sense that the movie the public was sold was not even remotely close to the movie anyone paid to see. Without going into a months worth of detail on the subject, (and continually beating a horse so far to death, it’s unborn ponies are gonna feel it) ‘BvS’ suffered from a tidal wave of bad press which helped keep the movie from being the success WB had hoped it’d have. Although Deadpool is far from the status of the “World’s Finest’, marketing and theatrical release dates were mostly to blame/praise for the reception they received.

Although ‘Gambit’ is nowhere close to having the amount of clout and/or fan appeal of ‘BvS’, it’s definitely something Fox has to consider before completely committing to green-lighting the movie. A few weeks ago Fox released a new ‘X-men: Apocalypse’ trailer that left the room as soon as it walked in. The buzz around it surmounted to the lifetime of a fruit-fly. Was releasing the trailer a week before Daredevil S2 premiered, and two weeks before WB set sale with their tidal flagship, just bad timing? Will X6 do well with it’s box-office returns? ‘X-men: Apocalypse’ has become a bit of an encumbrance for Fox, as it floats alone in uncharted water without a sense of real direction. Perhaps it’s just too soon for another X-movie. ‘Days of Future Past’ could/should have kept the series afloat for a few more years before Fox’s incessant need to trudge out ANOTHER movie to keep the series alive, felt necessary. However, sometimes in a sea of constantly shifting winds and changing tides, it’s the little lifeboats that make it through as the Titanics sinks behind them.

As the currently bloated summers of today and tomorrow rapidly incline with more and more over indulgent content spewing, like water into the air from broken hydrant on a humid day, how many blockbusters is it going to take before the block around the hydrant physically breaks? ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ will be hitting the theaters in June, adding to the already growing chaos currently crushing theaters and theater goers alike. Would another X-movie have mattered to Fox’s bottomline? Will it matter next year or the year after if there’s already 8-12 other “must-see!” super-hero/action movie extravaganzas (©), to plop down in front of? If it’s all Fox has, it could. ‘Gambit is popular solely with comic-fans, and doesn’t have the brand power of Deadpool or Wolverine. The idea of him tent-polling his own film or possible “series of films” is questionable at best. It’s a massive risk that Fox will need to asses and market properly before release. Yes, you could argue “risk” worked for ‘Deadpool’, but it’s not a true “risk” when you hedge your bet by releasing an action movie in a normally vacant month against virtually nothing. Gambit could possibly be a fantastic movie if it’s story driven and doesn’t rely on it’s namesake to carry the film. Maybe Fox knows this, and is planning accordingly. Or maybe they’re still searching, in hopes of finding an ace up their sleeve.

-Will Valle