It’s one step forward, two steps back for a trio of upcoming film projects.

X-Men spinoff Gambit finally has a release date according to The Hollywood Reporter: February 14, 2019. The film stars Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Magic Mike) as the Cajun mutant. The long-in-development film is likely making forward progress because 20th Century Fox secured Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) to direct (see “Gambit,' 'Bob's Burgers,' 'Avatar 2,' 'Venom,' 'Sonic the Hedgehog'”).  For all the movies in Q1 2019, see "Best in Shows -- Q1 2019."

THR reports that Disney has shelved Gigantic, their updated take on Jack and the Beanstalk. Despite having personnel who have helped produce bonafide hits for the studio, including directors Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) and Nathan Greno (Tangled) and Frozen songwriters Robert Lopez and Kirsten Anderson-Lopez, Disney determined that the project wasn’t working. They shelved the animated feature in favor of an as-yet-unannounced project. Gigantic had already been pushed back at least once before, from a 2018 release to a 2020 release (see “New Dates For 'Star Wars,' Marvel, Pixar Movies”).  

After the spectacular critical and domestic box office failure of Tom Cruise starrer The Mummy (see “'Wonder Woman' Buries 'The Mummy'”), Universal has decided to postpone the next entry in the Dark Universe, Bride of Frankenstein. Deadline announced the postponement, revealing that the February 1 production start date has been pushed back in favor of script revisions. Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie have been in talks to play the leads in the Bill Condon-directed film (see “Universal Unveils Its 'Dark Universe'”). Condon himself had distanced the project from The Mummy and Dark Universe in an interview with Collider, telling them that “…what I’m doing is 100% making a really good monster movie. It has nothing to do with anything else. Nothing. Zero.” The film had previously been scheduled for release on February 14, 2019.