"Mr & Mrs Smith" director Doug Liman is in final negotiations to helm Channing Tatum-starrer "Gambit".
Director Rupert Wyatt recently exited the project centered on the New Orleans-based mutant, who has the power to manipulate kinetic energy and known to fight with a staff and a deck of playing cards.
The movie is set for an October 7, 2016 release.
Fox has furiously met with filmmakers to hop on board to direct the X-Men spin-off Gambit, said The Hollywood Reporter.
Liman, 50, has had a several rounds of meetings, including one that took place Thursday.
The director last helmed the well-regarded sci-fi action movie "Edge of Tomorrow", which starred Tom Cruise. He is also known for directing "Mr & Mrs Smith" and "The Bourne Identity", two massive hits, commercially and critically.
Those two movies are also famously known for having been troubled productions, with the films needing to be saved in post-production.
Fox distributed 2005's Smith, while Stacey Snider, now co-chairman of Fox, was the chairman of Universal who oversaw the tumultuous making of 2002's Bourne.
Liman just wrapped "Mena", a 1980s drug cartel drama that re-teams him with Cruise and will be distributed by Universal.
Wyatt was set to direct the stand alone X-Men film, but on September 16 dropped out of the production, citing a scheduling conflict with an unnamed project.
Gambit made his first screen appearance in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", where he was played by Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch.
