Channing Tatum Wanted ‘The Lost City’ to Keep Its Original Naughty Title
After taking a bit of a break from Hollywood, Channing Tatum is back in action with a busy slate of new movies. The actor’s last live-action lead role was 2017’s Logan Lucky. And since his long-in-development X-Men spinoff Gambit never happened, his cameo appearance in 2021’s Free Guy marked the first time in a while he’s appeared on-screen. Now Tatum is back in The Lost City, but he wishes the movie had stuck with its racier original title.
‘The Lost City’ is Channing Tatum’s second 2022 movie
Despite taking a few years off, Tatum isn’t wasting anytime roaring back into movie theaters. In fact, The Lost City — which pairs him with Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, and Daniel Radcliffe — isn’t even his first movie in 2022. Just a month before The Lost City‘s March release, Tatum starred in and co-directed a comedy-drama called Dog.
With a reported of just $15 million, Dog quickly became a hit. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie earned more than $41 million in its first month in theaters. Of course, the star-studded action-comedy vibe of The Lost City could catapult that film to even bigger heights. That film is set for release on March 25, 2022 with an abridged title.
The film was originally announced with a naughtier title
When the movie was announced, it was called The Lost City of D. The title refers to an erotic novel written by Bullock’s Loretta Sage. Tatum plays Alan Caprison, the cover model for the book. It’s also a play on The Lost City of Z, a novel which itself was turned into a movie in 2016 starring Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson. Whatever the reason for the change, Tatum is adamant that he thinks The Lost City‘s original name would have been better.
“I wished they wouldn’t have dropped the ‘D,'” Tatum told Variety. “You never drop the ‘D.'” As cheeky as the actor’s response is, he’s not wrong. The Lost City of D has a memorable ring to it thanks to the innuendo. By contrast, The Lost City feels relatively bland and devoid of a clear style or personality. Hopefully for the film, audiences will be too curious about Bullock and Tatum’s on-screen chemistry to worry about its less-than-stellar title.
Channing Tatum returns to a fan-favorite role in 1 of his next films
Now that Tatum is back, the actor doesn’t seem to be interested in going anywhere anytime soon. He has several new projects in various stages of development. But there’s one that perhaps will attract attention more than the rest. Tatum’s generally avoided franchises, with 22 Jump Street his most notable brush with leading a series of movies.
Tatum has discussed how his experience making the G.I. Joe movies soured him on multi-picture deals. But he’s still back as the title character in Magic Mike’s Last Dance. The third and presumably final film in the series, the movie will reunite Tatum with the original film’s director, Steven Soderbergh. Though details are scarce, fans hope much of the previous movies’ ensemble cast returns.
