Good news: Justice League Dark just got a director. Bad news: Gambit just lost a director. That’s right, Doug Liman has decided to drop the ragin’ cajun and fall in line with the creepy, supernatural DC heroes instead.
THR reports that Liman has left Gambit, leaving Fox in the hunt for a new director (again). The film, which will star Channing Tatum as the titular X-Men hero, has had director troubles before. Liman was the second person set to helm the feature. The first, Rupert Wyatt, left the project back in 2015. Between the search for a filmmaker and constant script rewrites, Gambit has had trouble getting off the ground. Production is now set to start in 2017 but who knows if it’ll actually happen. You can expect news on a fresh director very soon and we’ll see if they stick.
Right as it was announced that Liman wouldn’t handle Gambit, Variety reported that the director was signing on to film Justice League Dark. Dark (which Variety says will be called Dark Universe) will revolve around comic mainstays Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Etrigan the Demon and Zatanna as they tackle the creepier side of the DCEU. They battle against supernatural and mystical villains and the film will surely be much darker and scarier than the current crop of movies. When I say darker, I mean it’ll literally be darker. Let’s hope it maintains at least some levity.
Warner Bros. and DC have been pushing for the project for a long time — they once had mastermind Guillermo del Toro attached — even moreso now with DC films repeatedly missing with critics and many fans. WB yearns for a hit, something that feels different and fresh in the crowded superhero market. Justice League Dark would certainly be unlike anything else in the genre. Now that Liman is officially attached, expect fans to start assembling their dream casts ASAP.
Liman, who previously directed Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper and the Tom Cruise treat Edge of Tomorrow, is well-equipped to make a blockbuster. The man can make a fun film. Now it’s time to see just how dark he can get.