Deadpool officially begins production

It's been years in the making and the production of a solo film for the X-Men character, Deadpool, is finally underway. The Deadpool project was announced after Ryan Reynolds' portrayal of the character in the 2009 film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it sat in development hell until now. At last year's San Diego Comic-Con some test footage leaked from a couple years back. Since then Fox played catch-up and finally announced the project was actually happening in late 2014 after a massive fan uprising demanding the film finally happen. This also came after Fox confirmed a solo film for Gambit, another X-Men character who appeared in X-Men Origins. Channing Tatum will replace Taylor Kitsch as Gambit in the announced solo film.

Deadpool stars Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, and Gina Carano. It is being directed by Tim Miller.

Deadpool set to begin filming in March

20th Century Fox has been sitting on this project since before X-Men Origins: Wolverine showed up and pretty much failed to meet every possible expectation anyone had. As a result, Deadpool was shelved and was pretty much thought to be dead until Comic-Con International last year. Some old test footage leaked and (yada yada yada) Fox greenlit the project. We now have even more confirmation that this is actually happening as the studio has set a filming date and location.

Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds, will start filming in Vancouver in March of this year. Vancouver is not only Reynolds' hometown but it is a big film hub for Fox. X-Men: Days of Future Past was even filmed there back in 2013. Tim Miller is attached to direct the film that is set for a February 12, 2016 release.
I still think that Guardians of the Galaxy had a lot to do with this as it proved that audiences were open to a superhero film not 100% grounded in reality. It also showed that we were willing to laugh a bit and be silly with our heroes. With that said, the reason that Fox never moved forward with Deadpool was because they weren't sure there was a wide market for it outside of the existing fanbase. I think the success Marvel has had with Guardians and their upcoming gamble on Ant-Man, Fox finally decided to take the plunge. There is no confirmation on whether they will stay completely true to the character and go for an R-rating, but even if it goes PG-13 I'm sure we will get an unrated version on DVD/Blu-Ray. 

Deadpool receives an official release date

I guess leaking test footage around Comic-Con was genius because Fox has just announced an official release date for a long-awaited Deadpool film.

Deadpool is currently set for February 12, 2016 and it is expected that Ryan Reynolds will return, but nothing is set in stone so far. Reynolds played Deadpool (aka, Wade Wilson) in the 2009 X-Men spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film will be directed by Tim Miller and produced by Marvel President Kevin Feige and Lauren Shuler Donner. If the February 12th release date sticks it will compete with Gods of Egypt, How to Be Single, and an untitled Universal project.
This character first appeared in print back in 1991 and has quickly become a fan favorite due to his talkative sass and impressive skill. If Reynolds does sign on to play Deadpool it will mark his first superhero appearance since the 2011 box-office bomb, Green Lantern.

This is so exciting it's ridiculous. I have been waiting for a Deadpool movie since X-Men: Origins so I am really excited. I'm not the biggest fan of Ryan Reynolds, but judging from what the leaked test footage looked like I think he would do just fine. Hopefully this is released before the announced Gambit spin-off and that it's R-rated. If it isn't R-rated I won't see it.

X-Men spinoff being considered by producers

We have already had a spin-off for Wolverine and had planned spin-offs for Deadpool and Magneto that pretty much got scrapped in terms of the initial X-Men Origins idea. Now the X-Men producers, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg, are considering a new spin-off featuring Mystique.

It's no secret that Mystique has risen in popularity simply because she is currently played by Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence. She is pretty, popular, and is Katniss freakin' Everdeen. She also did a pretty good job as the character in X-Men: First Class. What's not to love?
This isn't really surprising as Lauren Shuler Donner has previously expressed interest in reviving the Origins storylines to feature Gambit and Deadpool. Channing Tatum's name was even thrown out there for the role of Gambit. Regarding Mystique, she thinks that Lawrence's work is being overshadowed by a crowded ensemble and she would love to have a film solely dedicated to her.

According to several fan polls floating around the internet, people just want a Deadpool movie. No one wants any other X-Men Origins films after seeing what an overall disappointment X-Men Origins: Wolverine was. The downside is the studio and producers don't want an R-rated superhero movie which is what a Deadpool movie would have to be. As far as Mystique goes, it would need a really good plot to pull me in. I like Mystique and Jennifer Lawrence, but she isn't really a solo character. I think it would be hard to carry the weight there.

Channing Tatum eyed for Gambit movie

You might remember seeing Gambit once already in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he was somewhat poorly portrayed by Taylor Kitsch. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner is apparently trying to get Fox on board to bring the card-throwing thief back to the big screen, but instead of bringing back Kitsch she has been negotiating with Channing Tatum.

Shuler Donner spoke with Empire and flat out told them she is trying to make a stand-alone Gambit movie:

"I'm dying to do a Gambit movie with Channing Tatum that doesn't have to be a great big movie. It's a thief in New Orleans, it's a whole different story. He's on board, and I have to get the studio on board. How can anyone resist Channing? He's such a sweetheart."

Channing Tatum had this to say about the potential project:

“I would like to play Gambit. Gambit’s my favourite. I’m from New Orleans, around that area. My dad’s from New Orleans, and I like to do a Cajun accent. I could do it for real. No knock on Taylor Kitsch, though, ’cause I actually like his Gambit, but I’ve always lived around Cajun people. Gambit was always like the woman-loving, cigarette-smoking, drinking guy. He was the punk rock of all the superheroes. He’s a thief. He kind of rode the line.”

Given the fact that Fox seems fully resistant to bring a much desired R-rated Deadpool movie to the big screen, Gambit could be a nice bet for a low level X-Men movie. You wouldn't need a lot of mutants to appear and due to the nature of the character, it probably wouldn't get anything worse than a PG-13 rating. I don't think Channing Tatum would necessarily be my first choice to play Gambit, but he definitely couldn't be worse than Taylor Kitsch was.