You Can’t Stop Vin Diesel from Returning to the ‘xXx’ Franchise

The fourth installment of the xXxtreme Universe is on its way.

When Rebels and tyrants have replaced the patriots of the world, the government calls on Xander Cage. When Vin Diesel needs to fill in the gaps between Fast and the Furious and Marvel movies, he straps on a furry coat and a bulletproof snowboard. The original xXx earned more than $142 million at the domestic box office in 2002. Fifteen years later, The Return of Xander Cage scored just under $45 million. America does not appear to be screaming for a sequel, but Hollywood doesn’t make movies solely for the U.S. of A. anymore. The worldwide box office for that third xXx film actually clocked in at over $301 million. Whoa.

The numbers demand that Red Bull’s poster child deserves another shot at our wallets. Deadline reports that The H Collective and One Race Films (Diesel’s own production company) have acquired the rights to the franchise from Revolution Studios. The previous installment’s director, D.J. Caruso, will be returning to oversee Diesel’s vision of extreme sports enthusiasts kicking ass all across the globe. Spies with garrote watches and laser pens are so passé. What espionage cinema demands now are secret agents who can kill mid-ollie off a skyscraper.

The fact that Diesel has managed to manipulate an almost-immediately dated character like Xander Cage into a desirable action hero is rather impressive. Our obsession with Extreme Sports was already dwindling when the first film bungeed into theaters, but as Fast Five and its sequels revealed, our desire for absurdity cannot be quenched. The world will watch as Diesel skis down jungle mountaintops.

The success of populating The Return of Xander Cage with a multicultural cast followed in the footsteps of The Fast and The Furious‘ ever-increasing diversity. While there’s no word on whether or not Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, or Nina Dobrev will be reprising their roles, you can guarantee an ensemble will be assembled to appeal to the global demographic. Diesel has learned his mistakes from the solo focused adventures of Riddick and The Last Witch Hunter.

Dom and Xander are the two characters that have truly struck a chord with audiences. Try as he might to insert himself into other franchises, these are the action heroes that have landed. He will run them into the ground until they’re proven unprofitable.

How does Diesel keep his two most popular characters from blending into one? Speaking to Screen Rant on the eve of The Return of Xander Cage’s release, Diesel explained the varying levels of joys experienced by his alter egos:

Now, Xander on the other hand, is someone that will smile whenever he can. Xander’s the kind of person that will find the thrill in every moment in life. Xander’s the kind of person that is unapologetically fun. Xander is someone who has a confidence about himself, and refuses to take the world too seriously.

I think the same can be said for Diesel himself. The man just wants to have fun. You can’t fault him for that, right?

I hate the idea that we just walk into the movie theater to turn off our brains and enjoy a dumb movie. That flies in the face of a lifetime consumed by cinema. However, I do appreciate the big and the ridiculous that the xXx franchise provides. Witnessing how a skateboard and a pair of rollerblades can aid Double-O-Badass in his fight against terror is about as mind-numbingly rapturous as moviemaking can get. Anticipating how ludicrously fast the filmmakers can propel Xander Cage down a windy road simply makes me giddy.

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