Back in January, 20th Century Fox set an October 7, 2016 release date for their X-Men spinoff Gambit, which has Channing Tatum attached to star and produce. Production was originally scheduled to start this fall, with Rupert Wyatt attached to direct, until the filmmaker backed out in September. The project is now back on the right track, with Doug Liman entering talks to direct last week. Collider spoke with producer Simon Kinberg, before the Doug Liman news broke, and he revealed that shooting won't happen until next spring, which could mean that the release may be shifted to 2017.

"We have a director in and I don't know if I'm allowed to say who it is yet because his deal isn't done, but it's somebody we're excited about, and somebody I adore, and hopefully we can make an announcement soon about that. But we've been spending a lot of time together - Channing, [Reid Carolin, Tatum's producing partner], [screenwriter Joshua Zetumer], the director, and myself - just working on the script, and we hope to start shooting next spring."

The producer didn't exactly confirm that the release has been pushed to 2017, but it would certainly be a tall order to complete principal photography and post-production in less than a year, so a 2017 release date shift seems imminent. Channing Tatum finalized his deal back in early August, when it was also confirmed that the actor will appear in other X-Men movies. No plot details have been released yet, but Simon Kinberg teased that Gambit will be a sexy heist thriller, and it will have a much different tone than the other X-Men spinoff, Deadpool.

"I mean Deadpool obviously has a very different, almost antithetical tone to the mainline X-Men movies. The X-Men movies are dramatic and almost operatic, whereas Deadpool is irreverent and hysterical and sort of a dirty R-rated comedy in many ways. And Gambit will have its own different flavor and tone to it, will be more of like a heist movie and a sexy thriller in a way."

Channing Tatum is currently the only cast member officially attached for Gambit, but we reported in August that Léa Seydoux was being eyed for the female lead, Belladonna Boudreaux. It isn't known if a deal has been made for the actress, or what other characters still need to be cast. Hopefully we'll learn more about the characters and this "sexy heist thriller" plot as we get closer to production starting next year. What do you think about these new Gambit details?