The move kick-starts the stalled project that has seen Doug Liman and Rupert Wyatt come and go as helmers on the long-in-development X-Men spinoff. Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) exited in October 2015, while Liman (American Made) left in August 2016.

Tatum is attached to star in the pic as the New Orleans-based mutant with the power to manipulate kinetic energy and whose weapons include a staff and a deck of playing cards.

Simon Kinberg, Tatum and his partner Reid Carolin are among those producing Gambit.

The movie project comes as Fox has been expanding the big-screen presence of its X-Men properties, with 2018 seeing the release of New Mutants (set to open April 13), Deadpool 2 (June 1) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Nov. 2).

Gambit currently has no release date.