Vin Diesel's biggest franchise is The Fast and the Furious, but the Xander Cage series has been successful too, with another entry being held back by a lawsuit. Contrary to its title, the Xander Cage franchise isn't in fact about Diesel's character going the Boogie Nights route and joining the adult film industry. Instead, it casts the voice of Groot as Xander Cage, an extreme sports rebel and all-around adrenaline junkie turned reluctant spy for the NSA. Overseeing his activities is Augustus Gibbons, a high-ranking government official, and former operative in his youth.
Releasing not too long after the success of the first Fast and the Furious, the first Xander Cage movie made it clear that Diesel was a viable leading man, and could be counted on to carry a successful movie. Diesel's first outing brought in $277 million on a budget of $88 million, making it highly profitable. When it came time to make a sequel though, Diesel disliked the script and passed, leaving Ice Cube to star as a replacement agent.
State of the Union bombed, and after more than a decade, Diesel retook his rightful place as Cage in The Return of Xander Cage, another big hit. A Xander Cage 4 has been in the works since, with some casting even being announced, but unfortunately, a legal dispute has thrown a wrench into the works.
A Lawsuit Is Holding Up Xander Cage 4
As any non-lawyer knows, lawsuits tend to be written in legal language that can make one's eyes glaze over in either boredom or confusion. Here's what Xander Cage 4 suit boils down to though, in more general terms, as reported by THR. The prior three movies were produced by a company called Revolution Studios, which owns the rights to make future films in the franchise. A company called Weying Galaxy, the filer of the lawsuit, alleges that in 2017, they formed a joint venture with a company called The H Collective dubbed Xtreme Picture. The purpose of Xtreme Picture was to gain the rights to make more movies in the franchise, starting with part four. This joint venture happened because according to Weying, H Collective claimed to be able to purchase 100 percent control of the rights from Revolution.
That all sounds fine, until 2018 comes around, and Weying alleges that they learned H Collective had misrepresented things to them. Instead of 100 percent control of Xander Cage, H Collective could only acquire a 50 percent stake in the rights, which is obviously a huge difference. While Weying still wanted to move forward, further compounding things was that, according to them, Vin Diesel had to sign off personally on the 50 percent transfer, which H Collective hadn't bothered to get done. Diesel didn't grant this permission until 2020, and Weying says they had to make unplanned concessions for him to do so. In legal terms, Weying is suing for the action of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and breach of contract. It's unclear what the current status of the Xander Cage 4 lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, is, but knowing how slow the legal system can sometimes move, it may well put a halt on any forward moment on the film for some time to come.