With James Mangold’s much-anticipated The Wolverine opening on July 26th and Marvel’s continued success with solo superhero films, the door is wide open for some lesser-known heroes to take to the screen.  While Logan is easily the most popular and famous of the X-Men, he’s able to carry a solo film in part because his character is not defined by being a team player…quite the opposite.  So today we’ll make a case for another X-Man who has a fantastic backstory that’s not directly tied into the mutant team and possesses more than enough personality to shoulder a standalone film.  Hit the jump to find out more.  Hollywood!  Adapt this: Marvel’s ragin’ Cajun, Gambit.

A retro poster for the remake of Gambit has gone online.  The update was written by Joel and Ethan Coen and stars Colin Firth as a London art dealer who enlists a Texas Rodeo Queen (Cameron Diaz) to help him con the richest man in England (Alan Rickman).  The original 1966 film, which starred Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine, and Herbert Lom, is a must-see, and while it sets a high bar, I’m still excited to see what the remake has to offer.  At the very least, it’s got a nice poster that recalls the original without copying it.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Gambit opens in the U.K. on November 21st, and will hit the U.S. in early 2013.

Though we got out first look at some footage from the film just yesterday, the first full trailer for Gambit has now landed online.  The pic is a remake of the 1966 film starring Michael Caine as a cat burglar who recruits a showgirl (Shirley MacLaine) to help him heist a priceless antiquity.  The update was written by Joel and Ethan Coen and stars Colin Firth as a London art dealer who enlists a Texas Rodeo Queen (Cameron Diaz) to help him con the richest man in England.  The trailer makes the film look like a lot of fun, and the Coen brothers’ touch is quite evident.  The goofiness is reminiscent of Raising Arizona, and Alan Rickman is delightfully eccentric as the target of the con.  Performance-driven comedies are few and far between these days, and Gambit appears to be a breath of fresh air.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Directed by Michael Hoffman, the film also stars Stanley Tucci and Cloris Leachman.  Gambit will be released on November 21st in the UK and sometime in early 2013 in the US.

Michael Hoffman‘s remake of Gambit needs to stop being pushed back so I can see it.  In the original 1966 film, a cat burglar (Michael Caine) recruits a showgirl (Shirley MacLaine) to help him heist a priceless antiquity.  The remake was written by Joel and Ethan Coen, and stars Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, and was originally due out in the U.S. this year, but was pushed back to winter 2013.  However, as we saw from recent posters (that ripped off the tagline from Bowfinger), it will still hit theaters in the UK this November.  A portion of the trailer has landed online, and it looks like a lot of fun, although the Caine character is “a London art dealer who enlists a Texas Rodeo Queen (Diaz) in a scheme to con the richest man in England (Alan Rickman).”  Although this is only a brief glimpse, I like what I’m seeing, and hopefully we’ll get a full trailer in the near future.

Hit the jump to check out the partial trailer, and if you haven’t seen the original, be sure to track it down.

Let’s round up some posters, shall we?

• Sinister, a horror film from writer/director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D’Onofrio and Clare Foley, opens October 5th.
• Hotel Transylvania, featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade and Steve Buscemi, opens September 28th.
• Rust and Bone, the mystery/drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) that stars Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead), opens November 23rd.
• Gambit, which Michael Hoffman (One Fine Day) directs from a Coen Brothers script, stars Alan Rickman, Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz.  Gambit opens next year.

Hit the jump to see all the posters and synopses.

A few release dates have been shifted for some promising upcoming pics.  Briefly:

• Director Martin McDonagh’s (In Bruges) dark comedy Seven Psychopaths, starring Colin Farrell, has been moved up a month to October 12th.
• Joe Wright’s (Hanna) adaptation of the classic tome Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley, has been pushed back slightly to November 16th.
• The remake of Gambit, starring Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, has been pushed to an unspecified date in Winter 2013.

Hit the jump for more details.

CBS Films has done a bit of release date shuffling for two of their upcoming releases.  First up, director Michael Hoffman’s remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit has been moved up from January 11th, 2013 to October 12th of this year (per Box Office Mojo).  Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth star as partners in a con to sell a fake Monet painting, and the film has a script by Joel and Ethan Coen.  Given the caliber of talent involved, the January date was always a bit of a puzzler.  The film will now square off against Ben Affleck’s stellar looking period thriller Argo and the Kevin James “comedy” Here Comes the Boom.  Hit the jump for more, including release date news concerning The Grudge director Takashi Shimizu’s airplane thriller 7500.

Release dates have been announced for Gambit, Seven Psychopaths, and The Words.  Briefly, here they are:

• Michael Hoffman‘s heist-comedy Gambit, written by the Coen Brothers and starring Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz, is set for January 11, 2013.
• Martin McDonagh‘s dark comedy Seven Psychopaths, starring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, and Sam Rockwell, is due out November 2nd.
• The plagiarism drama The Words, starring Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, and Jeremy Irons, will open September 21st.

Hit the jump for more on all of these flicks and their competition at the box office.  [Release dates via Box Office Mojo]

While many were skeptical about an English-language remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy when it was announced, things got interesting when Spike Lee signed on to direct. Then the director locked Josh Brolin as his star and many fans’ fears (mine included) were abased. The next question was who Lee would choose to play the incredibly nasty villain, as the crux of the movie hinges on the dichotomy between the protagonist and the antagonist. Rumors began to surface that Colin Firth, an odd yet exciting choice, had been offered the role.

There reports were unconfirmed at the time, but Steve recently sat down with Firth to talk about the upcoming spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and he confirmed that he’s been approached about the role but no decisions have been made just yet. In addition, the actor talked about his recently wrapped remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit. The film also stars Cameron Diaz and Stanely Tucci, and was written by Joel and Ethan Coen. Hit the jump to check out the interview.

Director Michael Hoffman (The Last Station) initiated principal photography last week on the remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit.  Cameron Diaz and Colin Firth are subbing in for Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine, respectively, as partners in a con to sell a fake Monet painting.  Stanley Tucci and Cloris Leachman have just signed on to the production; they will be joined by Alan Rickman and Tom Courtenay.  Factor in the Coen Brothers wrote the screenplay, and there’s plenty of talent on both sides of the Gambit camera.

Production is in London right now, with plans to shift to New Mexico.  See the first official image of Diaz and Firth in costume on the Gambit set along with the official press release after the jump.

We have some quick casting stories for you this afternoon.  First up, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges has joined Garry Marshall’s upcoming romantic comedy New Year’s Eve.  The ever-expanding cast already includes (deep breath) Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessical Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michelle, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyes, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino.  So where does Bridges fit into this collection of actors getting paid for what probably amounts to a few days work in under-developed storylines about people falling in and out of love on New Year’s Eve?  According to THR, Bridges will play “a NYPD cop who is working with the director of the Times Square festivities (Swank).”

Bridges was recently one of the few redeeming aspects of No Strings Attached and he’ll next be seen reprising his character “Tej” in the new Fast and Furious movie, Fast Five.  Hit the jump for casting news regarding Alan Rickman and Tom Courtenay joining the remake of Gambit.

CBS Films has acquired distribution rights to the Joel and Ethan Coen-scripted remake to the 1966 Michael Caine-Shirley MacClaine caper comedy Gambit. The remake, from director Michael Hoffman (The Last Station), is set to star Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz. Firth will play a London art curator who plots an elaborate scheme to con a wealthy collector into buying a fake Monet painting. As part of the ruse, he recruits a Texas steer roper (Diaz) to play the part of a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.

Deadline reports that filming is set to begin in London this May. It appears that this will be the first film Firth will shoot following his Oscar win last month for his brilliant turn in The King’s Speech. Relatively new to the movie-making business, CBS Films recently scored a hit with The Mechanic and currently has the fantasy-romance Beastly in theaters. Diaz will next be seen in the R-rated comedy Bad Teacher.

Cameron Diaz will co-star in Coen Brothers-scripted remake of the 1966 caper comedy Gambit.  According to THR, Colin Firth will play a “London art curator who plots an elaborate scheme to con a wealthy collector into buying a fake Monet painting. As part of the ruse, he recruits a Texas steer roper (Diaz) to play the part of a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.”  The roles in the original film were played by Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.

Diaz recently costarred in The Green Hornet and will next be seen in the comedy Bad Teacher with Justin Timberlake.  Shooting on Gambit is expected to begin this May in London with The Last Station director Michael Hoffman at the helm.

Last month, we reported that director Michael Hoffman (The Last Station) had come on board to helm the Coen Brothers-scripted remake of the 1966 Michael Caine caper comedy Gambit.  Deadline now reports that Oscar nominee Colin Firth is in talks to play the Caine role of a cat burglar who attempts to steal a priceless statue from a billionaire by enlisting the help of a waitress (played in the original by Shirley MacLaine) who looks like the billionaire’s deceased wife.

Firth, who is likely to receive an Oscar nomination for his wonderful performance in The King’s Speech, is currently developing a film based on the Amanda Knox murder case with director Michael Winterbottom (The Killer Inside Me), and is co-starring in Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Director Michael Hoffman (The Last Station) has signed on to helm the Coen Brothers-penned remake of the 1966 British caper comedy Gambit.  According to Deadline, the project has finally found funding from upstart company Crime Scene Pictures, and is planning to begin shooting in London in May.  Casting is expected to begin shortly.

The original film starred Michael Caine as cat burglar who tries to rob a billionaire of his priceless statue and enlists the help of a waitress (Shirley MacLaine) who is a dead ringer for the victim’s late wife. While the burglar has carefully planned the job in his head, the execution is complicated by his relationship with his pretty accomplice.