Gambit, the Channing Tatum-starring vehicle, has been through a tumultuous pre-production. Contradictory reports said that the leading star was close to dropping out of the title film to pursue other projects, but ended up closing the deal to appear as the Ragin’ Cajun. Lea Seydoux (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Spectre) would then be confirmed to play the lead female role in the film. Weeks after that casting, director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Gambler) left the film either due to scheduling conflicts or creative differences.

Whatever the case may be, it left Gambit without a director, which in turn forced the production to be pushed back almost six months. However, there appears to be a new rumor that says Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity) may be in talks to direct the X-Men spin-off. More on the story here below.

This past summer, Fox attempted to revive Fantastic Four with a bold new vision. Starring a young diverse cast consisting of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Michael B. Jordan, the film would be directed by Josh Trank, but a number of behind-the-scenes problems revealed that it was a troubled shoot. It wasn’t so much of “creative differences” that fueled the conflict, but the shocking allegations of “combative and abusive behavior” by the director, along with Trank reportedly trying to control what the cast could say during the film’s press day, not to mention that he had no faith in the film whatsoever.

In the end, the Fantastic Four reboot tanked at the box office and was widely panned by both critics and audiences, in such a way that it gave hope to the idea that the rights to Marvel’s first family may revert back to Marvel Studios. And that seems to be the case, as a hot rumor says Marvel has struck a deal with Fox to get the rights back to Fantastic Four. More on the story here below.

Marvel Studios’ long-gestating Phase Three feature Black Panther, which recently signed Joe Robert Cole for scripting duties and saw its release date moved up from July 2018 to February of that year, so far has had a mighty difficult time locking down the perfect director.

Ava DuVernay (Selma) was first offered the gig over the summer, but she took a pass, as did F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton), who signed on to direct Furious 8 for Universal instead. Marvel seems determined to secure the services of a first-rate filmmaker, and according to a new rumor it appears that they may have found a new front-runner in Ryan Coogler.

Fearing that another “enhanced” or Inhuman may force him to go on a rampage, Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) went into hiding after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel Studios has had somewhat of a difficult time giving the character a new film of his own, as the first two previous attempts didn’t live up to expectations. But responses to his role in Avengers have shown that fans are interested in seeing the green giant get his own film. Rumors swirled that there could be a film adaptation of “Planet Hulk” or that Hulk may even appear in Captain America: Civil War.

But Marvel was quick to debunk both rumors, leaving Hulk’s whereabouts unknown. However, a new rumor has emerged saying that he may appear alongside Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. More on the story below.

Last weekend Denis Villeneuve“˜s drug war thriller Sicario grossed 401K in six theaters, which by those standards, is quite amazing. Of course the film will expand to a few more theaters later this weekend before expanding nationwide in early October. With the momentum it has now, there is an off chance that it could perform beyond expectations, which would give Lionsgate a reason to greenlight a sequel.

Now it is still very early in the process, but it appears that Lionsgate is very interested in getting a sequel to Sicario off the ground, with most of the major cast and creative team behind the project as well. More on who is involved and the possible plot of the film below.