Channing Tatum

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Channing Tatum can’t find a director for Gambit, Frank Grillo wraps on Captain America: Civil War, and something strange shows up on the Suicide Squad set.

Yes, Channing Tatum is still planning to make that Gambit movie. He just needs a finished screenplay. And a director. And an angle that helps us forget that Gambit is one of the lamest X-Men to ever achieve inexplicable popularity. Casting the intensely likable and charismatic Tatum goes a long away toward achieving that last goal and in a new interview, the Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street star revealed that the first draft of the script has been turned in ... and that the movie will be an origin story, albeit one that won’t play by the normal superhero movie rules.

The first teaser for Magic Mike XXL was a glorious thing of hilarious beauty, perfectly deploying Ginuwine’s “Pony” and promising that yes, this is a sequel we want to see. Now the first full trailer has landed online, and it is super pun-heavy, but also pretty charming and funny, as the gang returns with a few new additions for a rowdy road trip adventure.

The war to get The Forever War made has lasted for, well, forever. Ridley Scott was previously attached to direct the adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s 1974 sci-fi novel, but unfortunately had to move on as the project became trapped in development limbo. The Forever War has finally escaped that limbo, and with Channing Tatum attached to star, studios are now involved in a bidding war over the film.

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, take your first blurry look at Jared Leto as the Joker, check out Michelle MacLaren’s crazy Wonder Woman ideas, and learn which Marvel character Timothy Olyphant could have played.

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, Batman v Superman spoilers are revealed, the big screen and small screen Suicide Squads butt heads, and Joss Whedon spills his guts on Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Earlier today, we reported the rumor that not only has Captain Marvel been cast, but she’ll be making her first appearance in the already superhero-heavy Avengers: Age of Ultron. Having major superheroes make cameos or debut in other films from their respective studios has become the norm, so it’s hardly surprising to hear that X-Men: Apocalypse — which is said to primarily focus on the First Class cast — will feature a few cameos from other X-Men…including one pretty exciting mutant in particular.

Here’s something strange in the neighborhood: Deadline reports that Sony isn’t waiting for Paul Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot (with its cast of comedy all-stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon) to debut before planning additional Ghostbuster sequels or spinoffs. They’re already getting to work on what the trade describes as a “guy-themed” offshoot with an all-male cast.

‘Jupiter Ascending’ may be something of a commercial and critical failure, but even with its many (many) flaws, there’s one thing we can all appreciate about it: the robust, incredibly inventive and immersive production designs. It’s just something we’ve come to expect from Lana and Larry Wachowski, and it’s one element of their films that will reliably never disappoint. New concept art from the film has been released, showing off even more details from the world of ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ including hints at an expanded story for Channing Tatum’s character.

It’s great when a movie understands exactly what it is. ‘Magic Mike’ was an intelligently made Steven Soderbergh movie about life in Great Recession America. But it became a huge surprise hit in the summer of 2012—grossing $167 million worldwide against a budget of just $7 million—because it had Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, and an assortment of the finest man-candy in Hollywood bumping and grinding with their shirts off. The marketing for ‘Magic Mike XXL’ seems to have an innate sense of this. The first poster is a picture of Tatum with his shirt off, pointing at his crotch where the word “Coming” is suggestively placed. And this teaser trailer is basically Channing Tatum (and the rest of his team of shredded male strippers) dancing, stripping, and then dancing with their shirts off. I smell box-office gold. Wait, no, that’s baby oil and Muscle Milk. But those things smell a lot like box-office gold when they’re in ‘Magic Mike XXL.’