Mike Lowery
With most of his projects of late going back to the drawing board, Channing Tatum has had to hunt for greenbacks in places other than the “Gambit” and a “Jump Street/Men in Black crossover movie” accounting office, respectively.
While the “Magic Mike” actor – whose only film last year was an animated one, “The LEGO Movie Part 2” – continues to develop and steer productions of his own to the starting line, Disney has handed him his next meal ticket.
Tatum has signed to headline and produce the long-gearing-up “Bob the Musical” for Walt’s team, says The Wrap.
In the works for over a decade, it tells the story of a regular guy who, after a blow to the head, suddenly can hear the inner songs of everyone’s heart as his reality is instantly turned into a musical, much to his dismay.
Everyone from Mark Waters to Adam Shankman has been briefly attached to the project, at different stages of its life, but there’s nobody onboard to helm at this point. With Tatum now onboard, a director should be set pretty swiftly.
While the last year may have been pretty quiet for Tatum – largely due to the on-again off-again nature of the long-gestating comic book project “Gambit”, which he’s been long attached to star in – 2020, going into 2021, is apparently pretty chocas for the dancer cum thesp.
In addition to his new Disney flick, Tatum is attached to 7 pictures – most notably, the remake of ‘80s classic “Splash”, in which he plays the one with the fish tail (Daryl Hannah did in the original).
You may also have read that he’s been able to get “Dog”, a film about an army ranger and a dog on their way to a funeral, that he’s also directing and producing, financed.
He is also set to voice George Washington in a new R-animated comedy called “America : The Motion Picture” for Director Matt Thompson (“Archer”).
Then there’s the sci-fi war film “The Forever War”, based on Joe Haldeman’s novel, and the Jamie Linden drama “Soundtrack of Silence”.
“Bloodlines”, which he’s set to star in, doesn’t yet have a director but that’s also on his to-do list. In it, an FBI agent investigates a Mexican drug cartel’s money laundering scheme involving race horses.
In addition to “Bob the Musical, Tatum is also attached to star opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in another musical, called “Wingmen”. Gordon-Levitt is directing the picture.
Tatum also has a number of projects in the works at his production company, and he won’t be appearing in some of those — “The Maxx”, based on the comic, may be one he’ll simply help get going but won’t lend his face to.
If “Gambit” does ultimately get going – and that decision now lies with Disney, since they’ve taken over Fox – Tatum might even be too busy now consider playing the card-carrying magic-mutant.
