It’s been known for some time that Channing Tatum has been wanting to be Gambit for a while now, and all the talk from him and the producers isn’t just talk anymore. After the monumental success of X-Men: Days of Future Past and the announcing of X-Men: Apocalypse before DOFP even came out, Fox and their X-Verse creators now have everyones attention. Today’s news only added to that as Tatum’s Gambit movie got an official release date, along with Fox changing up release dates for some big time movies.

First up is Gambit. This movie has been talked about for a while now, by producers and star Channing Tatum himself. Following the announcement that Tatum will in fact star in the title role and join the X-Verse for Fox, we’ve all just patiently been waiting any kind of announcement regarding Gambit. 

Well, today was that kind of announcement. Gambit himself took to twitter to unofficially, but officially announce the release date of his superhero debut, check it out:

With Tatum confirming a 2016 release date, Gambit is now the third X-Men movie of 2016 (Deadpool set for February 12 and X-Men: Apocalypse set for May 27), which is awesome! It also means that Fox now has more cinematic universe movies planned than what Disney/Marvel, Warner Bros./DC, and Sony have – which again is awesome.

Now that we know (somewhat) what Fox’s plans are for their X-Verse, the question now becomes what the plans are for both characters of Deadpool and Gambit. Are they just showing up in their respective solo outings? Or will we see them both join the world of X-Men in Apocalypse (both are expected to appear, it would be the introduction of Gambit)? More than likely and my bet is that we will see both in Apocalypse, as all fans definitely want that!

Plus it makes complete sense. With Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine character hitting his end here sometime soon and the runs for James McAvoy’s Professor X, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto, and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique most likely ending with X-Men: Apocalypse, Fox’s X-Verse will be in need of franchise players and faces. Who could be better than a duo of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Channing Tatum as Gambit? It sounds pretty damn good to me. With these movies coming out next year, there’s no doubt we’ll here more on these movies soon.

Here’s what Fox’s upcoming X-Men slate looks like:

• Deadpool – February 12, 2016
• X-Men: Apocalypse – May 27, 2016
• Gambit – October 7, 2016
• Untitled Wolverine Sequel  – March 3, 2017
• Untitled X-Men Movie – July 13, 2018

Alongside the news of Gambit getting an official release date, Fox also took the opportunity to announce release date changes for three of their major upcoming projects.

Fox’s other superhero franchise is getting a second life this summer with the rebooted attempt at one of Marvel Comics huge super teams, the Fantastic Four. That release date is fine, it had a swap a while back. Today rather saw its sequel get a move, with its original release date set at July 14, 2017, it’s now been moved up a month to June 2, 2017.

Fox has some major cash grabbers on their side right now. With X-Men: Days of Future Past being a gigantic hit and putting that franchise back on the map and Fantastic Four coming back to the big screen in what looks like a big way, their next big franchise is without a doubt the Planet of the Apes franchise.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes definitely put this reboot into good sights, but what Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did last summer was huge. It was easily one of last year’s biggest and best movies (ranking in at number three for me). With its huge success, the studio announced a threequel directly afterward, with that being set for summer 2016. It was a surprise by many, but very exciting. Unfortunately, it was announced today that the third Planet of the Apes will be delayed a year and now has a July 14, 2017 release date. It’s not a huge deal as there were three years between the first two, it just sucks because how awesomely unbelievable Dawn was.

Other release dates announced:

• Assassin’s Creed – December 21st, 2016 (starring Michael Fassbender)
• The Greatest Showman on Earth – December 25th, 2016 (starring Hugh Jackman)
• The Mountain Between Us – February 10th, 2017 (starring Charlie Hunnam and Rosamund Pike)