Continuing his one-man crusade to star in as many franchises as possible, Vin Diesel returned after a fifteen-year absence to headline xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which surprised a lot of people by racing to almost $350 million at the box office on an $85 million budget. It also caused a storm among fans and many critics for being an unabashedly proud example of big, loud and dumb action cinema.
The series looked as though it was over for good when Diesel stepped away from the lead role following the success of the 2002 original, with Ice Cube stepping in to take top billing in State of the Union, which flopped hard in theaters back in 2005. However, the star and producer came back applying the same attitude that he brought to Fast & Furious, reinventing xXx as an absurd ode to bombastic excess.
The very same month Return of Xander Cage hit theaters, Diesel confirmed that Paramount were already eying a fourth installment, with director D.J. Caruso confirming that he’d be back along with the majority of the principal cast. In November 2018, Jay Chou and Zoe Zhang joined the ensemble, but in the two and a half years since, we’ve heard nothing about xXx 4.
That’s because a lawsuit is preventing the production from moving forward, with several companies all claiming to have a significant stake in the property. Revolution Studios have produced every entry so far and they still control the rights, but Weying Galaxy claim they have an agreement with another outfit named The H Collective, also known as Xtreme Picture, which was formed to create an entire xXx cinematic universe.
The H Collective believe they agreed to acquire the rights from Revolution, which is being disputed, and now Weying Galaxy feel as though they’ve been misled from the outset. As things stand, then, serious charges including fraud and breach of contract will need to be ironed out before xXx 4 becomes a reality.
