By Movie franchises are a hot commodity right now, if you’ve got one you don’t just let it go, so you might be surprised to learn that Revolution Studios has given up the rights to xXx, better known as Vin Diesel: Extreme Sports Guy, to Vin Diesel/One Race Films and H Collective. Of course, then you’ll think about it and realize that Xander Cage, the titular xXx, isn’t actually a franchise at all, but instead a series of movies that no one wanted. Now, it’s pretty easy to understand why Revolution gave it up.
Well, give it up is a bit of an exaggeration. I’m sure they made all involved pay money, but now that Diesel owns the character he is confirming that xXx 4 is a thing and D.J. Caruso will return to direct along with Diesel starring. Damn you, China!
See China is to blame for more xXx. Didn’t we kill off this out-of-date action hero by making sure that xXx: The Return of Xander Cage bombed at the box office? Yes, the US did, but not China. China made that movie a massive hit. H Collective was pretty much founded (this year) to make money in China, and evidently Xander Cage is kind of a big deal there. Thus, they’d want to pick up the franchise and move it forward for the international money.
Of course this isn’t Diesel’s first foray into procuring the rights to one of his characters to further a franchise. The actor traded a cameo in Fast and Furios: Tokyo Drift so he could get the rights to Riddick and make Riddick. That turned out OK, but that’s also because Riddick is based on a cool concept, with an interesting character. Xander Cage on the other hand is based on street luge.
