Screen Rant » XXX: The Return of Xander Cage

Rumor Patrol: Vin Diesel Still Doing ‘xXx 3′

Scott Miller — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:00:05 +0000

There was a rumor floated recently by CineFools that Vin Diesel had dropped out of xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. If you heard that rumor and freaked out, you can now turn red ’cause Diesel’s publicist emailed MTV and said it was untrue. This is exactly what was said in that email:

“I made a few calls on this and I can tell you that it is completely not true.“

The action-packed xXx franchise began with Diesel in 2002, when he played the extreme sports athlete-turned government operative, Xander Cage. xXx: State of the Union (2005) ripped Cage away from us and replaced him with Ice Cube’s Darius Stone. The third installment in the franchise is to be directed by Ericson Core, who brought us Invincible and was the cinematographer on Daredevil.

It was suspected the Deisel had dropped out of The Return of Xander Cage because director Rob Cohen, who helmed xXx and directed Deisel in 2001’s The Fast and the Furious was not involved in xXx 3. While Cohen is indeed off the upcoming xXx, Deisel’s still ridin’ that pony.

Now, did we learn anything from ripping down our Vin Diesel posters before getting confirmation on that nasty rumor?

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is to be unleashed like shameful gossip upon the masses in 2011.

Source: CineFools, MTV

xXx 3 Gets a New Director

Ross Miller — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:02:12 +0000

News has surfaced, by way of The Hollywood Reporter, stating that a new director has been found for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, the third installment in Columbia Pictures’ action series. Last year both star Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen (director of the first installment) agreed to join forces for a third film, but in June this year Cohen bailed to direct Medieval. The new director is Ericson Core (Invincible), who’s worked with Diesel before as the Cinematographer on The Fast and the Furious.

Diesel starred in the original xXx back in 2002, but both he and director Cohen skipped the second film, xXx: State of the Union, starring Ice Cube and directed by Lee Tamahori.

Diesel was somewhat of a hot name at the time of xXx, but for some reason he thought it best to skip both the sequel and two of the Fast and the Furious sequels in order to concentrate on The Chronicles of Riddick. After that came the financial failure Babylon A.D. and the family comedy (read: the film that lost him his “street cred”), The Pacifier.

It’s no wonder then that Diesel has turned his sights back on the franchises that gave him relative success in the first place, first with Fast & Furious earlier this year and now with xXx 3 (there’s also rumblings of a new Riddick movie, too). The new xXx is being produced by Neil Moritz and Joe Roth, and was written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris (Terminator Salvation), with the script recently being “polished” by Richard Wilkes, writer of the original. Unsurprisingly (going by the name) the third film will see Diesel’s “action man” Xander Cage return to the National Security Agency after an eight-year hiatus.

[SPOILER warning]

After Cage’s apparent death sometime following the first film – which was mentioned in the second one and even partially seen in a special scene filmed for the DVD release of the first movie – I’m calling now that the explanation they’ll give in The Return of Xander Cage is that he faked his own death. You just wait and see.

[End SPOILERS]

The first xXx was somewhat fun, but in no way what you would call a “good” movie. For anyone who enjoys action films for the ridiculous, over-the-top brain-mush they so often deliver, then you’ll get a few kicks out of xXx. The sequel with Ice Cube was absolutely horrible, not least of which because of Cube. I really don’t want to spend too much time thinking about it.

It’ll be interesting to see if xXx 3 will make any money. The first one made almost $280 million worldwide, but the second dropped to about $70 million. Will the inclusion of Diesel this time around bring in more people? I have a sneaking suspicion it just might. Of course, franchise name recognition doesn’t exactly hurt either. Having said that, this step seems like further evidence of Diesel trying to spark a second go at stardom by retracing his cinematic steps. You can’t exactly blame him, I suppose, but I can’t say I’m psyched about the movie, either.

With Cohen now not returning to direct, and instead Core (who’s got limited directorial experience) helming it, they’ve just removed one possible ray of hope this sequel might have had. I’m going to go out on a limb here (note the sarcasm) and say it’ll be lame. Not xXx 2 lame, but still pretty lame nonetheless.

What do you think about a third xXx movie? What about the director they’ve brought on-board?

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage currently has an aimed production start date of sometime early next year, and doesn’t have a release date yet.

Source: THR

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage

Niall Browne — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:09:25 +0000

Poor Vin Diesel, the man just can’t get a break. He hit the big time about a decade ago with Pitch Black. He followed that movie up with The Fast and the Furious and xXx, however he refused to star in follow-ups to these. Instead opting for The Chronicles of Riddick, a big budget sequel to Pitch Black, a film that failed to meet expectations (as well as its budget at the box office).

Following the failure of Babylon A.D. and the loss of “street cred” due to The Pacifier, Diesel is returning to the “furious” franchise next summer with Fast and Furious (the fourth film in the series), while news has come in today that the bald star and original xXx director Rob Cohen are mulling a return to the “modern Bond” franchise they started in 2002 (following Ice Cube’s disastrous sequel).

So what the heck is up with Vin Diesel?

Do these choices merely reek of desperation or a cunning game plan?

My thinking is that Diesel is a little desperate. Every A-list star needs a franchise to fall back on – it’s a safety net for when things get rough. For examples of this see Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Ford (and Eddie Murphy over the last five or so years) – when the chips are down return to your glory days.

Diesel however cooked his goose before he actually bought it by bailing on xXx and The Fast and the Furious and betting all his chips on the Riddick franchise. It would appear that Diesel is trying to regroup and solidify his standing in Hollywood by attaching himself to some films that make money (it isn’t called show business for nothing) so that he can make his oft mooted Hannibal film and continue his “epic story” for Riddick. Oh … and pay the mortgage on his mansion.

It seems that Hollywood is biting – Sony is interested in another xXx, however as the rights are owned by former Revolution Studios head, Joe Roth, he’ll be shopping the film around town for a solid deal. With Rob Cohen, now hot after the new Mummy (and was previously “cold” after Stealth) and Diesel taking a pay cut due to back to back bombs, it looks like we might eventually see xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.

It really does look like X gonna give it to ya.

Source: Variety