Why Channing Tatum Isn't On The Big Screen As Much These Days

It feels like only yesterday the dishy Tatum was continuously gracing us with his presence on the big screen. We don’t mean to scare you, but it’s actually been almost a decade since this busy time in the actor's career – yep, a whole decade! Between 2008 and 2011 Tatum appeared in no fewer than 11 movies, ranging from Public Enemies to The Dilemma. Talk about keeping yourself busy.

Tatum’s biggest year arguably came in 2012. Over those 12 months, he headlined three very different films that seemed to catapult him into Hollywood superstardom. Before that, his journey to fame had been relatively steady going. He made his small-screen debut in an episode of CSI: Miami in 2004 and didn’t look back from there.

The future superstar followed that up with his first movie appearance in 2005’s Coach Carter. Then, Tatum went on to rack up numerous credits, including his break-out hit Step Up. That film brought in more than $114 million at the box office globally and introduced a lot of people to the actor for the first time. But as we now know, he was just getting warmed up.

So, what was so special about 2012? Well, the star kicked off that year with romantic drama The Vow. And that was followed by the hilarious action comedy 21 Jump Street. After that, Tatum rounded off the trio with Magic Mike. All in all, those three films brought in over $565 million across the world, far exceeding their individual budgets. To say they were huge hits would be an understatement!

Tatum enjoyed another busy year in 2013 as he featured five more movies. One of them was White House Down – an action feature directed by Roland Emmerich. Unfortunately, though, while no actual losses were involved, that film didn’t take off as expected, bringing in little more than $205 million off a predicted budget of $150 million.

Hey, they can’t all be winners, right? Tatum isn’t the first actor to star in a box-office disappointment, and he won’t be the last. Anyway, the actor bounced back from that misfire the following year, appearing in four films. Of those, 22 Jump Street was the stand-out, as it raked in over $331 million across the world.

But nothing could prepare Tatum for what was coming in 2015. To kick that year off, he starred in a huge sci-fi action movie directed by the Wachowski sisters. Yes, Jupiter Ascending looked to be the film that would further cement his place amongst the Hollywood elite. Maybe a future franchise was in the offing?

That didn’t happen, though. Instead, Tatum’s star vehicle was mauled by both critics and audiences alike. It has earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 27 percent, while the overall mark on Metacritic reached just 40 out of 100. This wasn’t just a disappointment – it was a bit of a disaster for everyone involved. But it isn’t the reason we don’t see him on our screens today.

In fact, Tatum featured in two more movies that year, including the Magic Mike sequel Magic Mike XXL. Yet from 2016 onwards, the actor’s output slowed down considerably. He enjoyed a somewhat busy period in 2017, but over the next 24 months he popped up in only a couple of films. That’s quite a contrast to before!

Incredibly, The Lego Movie 2 in 2019 was Tatum’s last film to hit the big screen. Mind you, audiences haven’t seen the star in the flesh since 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle came out. That’s unbelievable, right? He’s been away from live-action roles for a lot longer than you might’ve expected.

Then again, just because Tatum’s work in Hollywood has slowed down, that doesn’t mean he’s disappeared from the limelight completely. You see, the actor’s love life has been well covered by the media over the last few years. And given his lack of movies, it’s probably the most people have heard about him in that time.

If you’re out of the loop, though, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered! During the fall of 2018 Tatum revealed that he had a new girlfriend in the form of music star Jessie J. The pair were together for the next year or so, up until December 2019. At that stage, they seemed to call it quits.

Yet at the turn of 2020, Tatum and J appeared to be an item again, as they rocked up at a press event together. Fair enough – maybe they just needed some space for a little bit? But by that spring, the famous duo had called time on their romance once more. Still with us? Good!

So what’s the story here? Why did Tatum and J decide to end things? Well, a pair of insiders provided some information on that front when they broke the news to two separate outlets in April 2020. One of them spoke to People magazine’s website, while the other turned to TV show E! News.

The first insider told People, “They cared enough about each other to try again but realized it was better to move on. It’s totally amicable.” The second individual concurred, reiterating, “It was an amicable break-up. They had tried again to make it work but realized they were better off as friends.”

Talk about a roller-coaster of emotions, right? But that’s got us wondering – did Tatum and J give it one more go? Possibly. The music star was pictured with her former partner a short time after she typed up a birthday message for him in April 2020. Yep, the same month they broke up.

Tatum and J were seemingly redefining the on-and-off romance! Speaking of which, she confirmed that they were no longer together in the fall of 2020...again. Yes, the singer stated that she was a singleton in a social media post at that time. Plus, another insider said that they split “months ago” to E! News.

This kind of drama wouldn’t have been out of place in a movie starring someone like Tatum! So the actor is still in the news, even though his roles have dried up. And that takes us back to our earlier question...why has his work in Hollywood slowed to a crawl? Is there an explanation?

The simple answer is yes, but there’s more than one reason behind it. The most obvious of those can be traced back to Tatum’s big-screen disappointments. Unfortunately for his fans, a case can be made that they’ve played a part in his prolonged absence. We’ll start with White House Down.

Like we said earlier, one misfire shouldn’t derail an actor’s career. The issue here, though, is what Tatum did next. He didn't have the lead role in any of the successful movies following White House Down up until Jupiter Ascending. The actor was either a co-headliner or a supporting player.

And that arguably came back to bite him with Jupiter Ascending. As the main male lead, that movie was his chance to prove himself as a blockbuster star. But it was another misfire – and a huge one at that. Shockingly, the film only generated $47.3 million at North American cinemas off an estimated budget of $176 million.

While the movie went on to take more than $183 million across the world, it’s still considered to be a massive flop. As far as disappointments go, this was a big one. So, after two sizable misses, would Tatum be given the chance to lead a third tentpole film? It hasn’t happened yet, which could be pretty telling.

After all, it’s not as though Tatum hasn’t tried to get big projects off the ground. In fact, that brings us on to another reason why we haven’t seen much of him recently. The actor has been desperate to star in one particular comic-book movie for a long time, despite being besieged by behind-the-scenes drama.

In case you didn’t know, we’re referring to a doomed project called Gambit. The titular character is an incredibly cool figure in X-Men comics, boasting an iconic look. And Tatum seemed like a very good fit for the guy when he was eventually cast in the spring of 2014. Yet no one could’ve predicted what happened next.

Once the original director, Rupert Wyatt, departed Gambit, the film found itself stuck in development hell for years. As per the Looper website, it lost two more talented helmers in Gore Verbinski and Doug Liman, while the screenplay was constantly torn up. Throughout it all, Tatum was waiting in the wings.

As a result of the craziness, the movie’s release was pushed back countless times between 2016 and 2019. It was on, then it was off. In truth, Gambit felt like the Hollywood equivalent of Tatum’s romance with Jessie J! But on a more serious note, his involvement on this project probably cost him some roles as it occupied a chunk of his schedule.

At the time of writing, though, Gambit is no longer on Tatum’s upcoming slate of work. We can only imagine his frustration! Anyway, let’s move on to the next reason behind the star’s Hollywood hiatus. As it turns out, he’s grown quite picky with what films he’d like to make going forward.

Tatum went into more detail on that front during a chat with the New York Daily News. He told the newspaper, “I really don’t want to be in any more movies that I don’t produce. Unless it’s with one of the ten directors that I really want to work with, I don’t have any interest in not being on the ground floor of creating it.”

Sticking with that, Tatum also offered another glimpse into his mindset during the opening of his 2018 kids film Smallfoot. That was the actor’s first big screen project since Kingsman: The Golden Circle from the year before. He had told Variety magazine that September, “I’m sort of ready to go back to work.”

“I don’t know what I’m ready to go do yet, as far as, is it acting, is it directing, is it producing, writing?” Tatum continued. “Maybe I’ll come and start interviewing people, I don’t know! I have no clue what I’m going to do, but I’m having fun though.” Then, the actor brought up an additional point.

Tatum added, “I have a kid, man. That is the biggest job that I have.” Now just to be clear, this youngster didn’t come from the Hollywood star’s relationship with Jessie J. Instead, his little girl arrived during his marriage to Jenna Dewan in the spring of 2013. His daughter’s name is Everly.

Could that be an additional explanation for Tatum’s absence? It certainly looks that way. Plus, his job as a dad was really tested when he and Dewan split up in 2018. In fact, after that it became quite clear what the Step Up star’s priorities were when he spoke to Parents magazine in April 2021.

On the subject of his daughter, Tatum said, “When I became a single father, I had a lot of fear about connecting to Everly in every way that a little girl might want. I didn’t wear nail polish or know how to braid hair. But now I do both. I jumped with both feet into this magical world.”

“I was rewarded with a kind of love that I don’t think I would have ever been able to have otherwise,” Tatum noted. “I paint my face, I wear tutus – rarely am I around the house without some sort of costume on. [So] I [don’t] want dads to be afraid to go into their daughter’s world and discover who they are.”

Tatum’s time as a dad also lines up with a big change in his career, too. After Everly’s birth, he’s since taken on a lot of voice-only roles. His first big-screen effort came in 2014’s The Lego Movie, which was followed by The Book of Life later that year. And it doesn’t end there.

Between 2017 and 2019, three of Tatum’s five movies were animated – The Lego Batman Movie, Smallfoot and The Lego Movie 2. As per Looper, those kinds of gigs would give the actor a chance to be with Everly more often. Makes sense, wouldn’t you agree? On top of that, he’s pretty good with his voice!

So yes, there’s quite a bit to digest here. Like we said earlier, it wasn’t just a single reason! But we’ve got one final bit of insight to share with you as well. Back in 2012 Tatum revealed his plans to try directing for a spell, which ties into his previous comments from the Variety interview.

As Tatum told Entertainment Weekly magazine, he hoped to start the transition in 2013. That ultimately didn’t happen, though, as he stuck with acting. Mind you, the star refused to drop the idea going forward, and it’s now led to an exciting opportunity. Alongside that, his time away from the big screen has finally come to a close.

America: The Motion Picture marked Tatum’s first role of any kind for two years when the animated movie dropped in June 2021. After that, his debut feature behind the camera is set to come out in 2022. It’s titled Dog, and he’ll be starring in it, too. Plus, with Lost City of D also scheduled for release that year, the comeback’s on. We can’t wait!