If life was a video game, Vin Diesel’s main quest would be to turn something that was considered deceased into a franchise about cool adrenaline junkie guys.
There are some things that just don’t need to be proven on a daily basis: everyone knows they’re true. The sky is blue, the fire burns, and whenever there’s even the slightest chance to turn a long-dead and forgotten brand into a franchise that would feel like you’re traveling back to the 2000s banded with some cool boys, Vin Diesel will do that.
The Godfather of the Fast & Furious franchise, Vin Diesel has never lost his passion for big bangs, nu metal, tough bald protagonists covered in tattoos, and adrenaline rush-fueled sequences that defy the laws of physics. For some, it may look ridiculous, but all in all — that’s exactly why we love the man. That’s what he does.
Apart from his world-famous F&F movies that keep getting more and more bizarre each time but still somehow hit the bank, Diesel’s been on a hunt for forgotten and underappreciated (in his book, that is) franchises for years now. Whenever the actor finds something that looks like it belongs back in the early 2000s, he grabs it.
This is what happened with Rob Cohen’s infamous xXx, too. The original movie that came out in 2002 was described as basically the “James Bond for the nu-meral enjoyers,” and that’s exactly what it was. xXx perfectly captures what was popular and “cool” back in those days, and it’s more of a picture of an era than anything else.
But don’t you say these things anywhere near Vin Diesel! Even though the original xXx’s sequel, State of the Union, bombed miserably in 2005, the Godfather of the F&F took it upon himself to revive the dead and brought the franchise back twelve years later, in 2017. No one truly knows why, but xXx: Return of Xander Cage was created.
And suddenly, it rocked! Vin Diesel’s new movie earned almost $350M at the box office against a budget of just $85M, so it was a success. Now, six years later, Return of Xander Cage is suddenly popping off again on streaming services — according to FlixPatrol, the movie is now a top-10 hit in 54 (!!!) countries!
You bet Vin Diesel already promised to make another movie, turning good old xXx into a full-blown franchise with the fourth installment. We don’t expect it to come any time soon, though, and are honestly wondering whether Diesel will be able to make the early-2000s fashion work once again…and whether xXx will turn into the new F&F.
