‘Gambit’: Is ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts Teasing That He’s In Talks?

Is Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts hinting that he’s in talks to direct 20th Century Fox’s Gambit movie, or is he just going through a bout of nostalgia for 1990s X-Men video games?

That’s the question based on an Instagram story that Vogt-Roberts recently posted. The photo shows three video games: 1992’s Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge and 1994’s X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse for Super Nintendo and 1993’s X-Men for Sega Genesis.

Take a look below:

The timing of this photo is interesting because X-Men movies producer Simon Kinberg recently confirmed that 20th Century Fox is currently holding meetings to find a new director for Gambit.

“We have a really great script for [Gambit], and we’ve met with a bunch of directors in the last couple of weeks,” producer Kinberg told Entertainment Weekly.

So is Vogt-Roberts, a dedicated video game fan, turning to these classic games for research and inspiration? All of these games include Gambit as a playable character, though that may be incidental as the games’ rosters are all inspired by the iconic 1990s X-Men designs of Jim Lee and the characters featured in the popular X-Men animated series of the era. It is worth noting that Vogt-Roberts’ photo includes Gambit on all three games’ cover art.

Then again, as mentioned, Vogt-Robert is a video game fan and it is possible that these are simply some recent additions to his collection.

The Gambit movie has gone through a series of directors. Originally, Rupert Wyatt was set to direct the film, but eventually exited. Doug Liman was next to step into the role but also departed the project. Most recently it was Gore Verbinski set to direct, but he also stepped down.

The director shakeups have led to several delays in the film’s production and release. Gambit is currently expected to begin filming in June.

The Gambit movie will star Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau, the X-Men’s mutant master thief. The film’s plot reportedly involves Gambit assembling a group of mutants for a high-stakes heist.

The pending Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox has left the future of Fox’s X-Men movies franchise in question, though those working on the films seem to be going about business as usual for now.

Gambit is currently scheduled for release on June 7, 2019. Other upcoming X-Men movies include Deadpool 2 on May 18th, X-Men: Dark Phoenix on February 14, 2019, and The New Mutants on August 2, 2019.

[H/T] Omega Underground