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xXx: The Return of Xander Cage Gets Replacement Director

by Ethan Anderton
August 26, 2009

Just in case you were worried that this project would never come to fruition (especially after director Rob Cohen dropped back in June) THR reports today that Ericson Core (Invincible) has been tapped to sit in the director's chair for the third installment of the action series xXx. We've known that Vin Diesel is coming back to reprise his role as Xander Cage for almost a year now, but since then the only news about the project was the uninspired hiring of John Brancato and Michael Ferris (Catwoman and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) to pen the script. But with this dream team of talent can't you already smell the success?

Columbia is moving fast on this unnecessary sequel to capitalize on the recent trend of green-lighting nearly all familiar intellectual property-based pictures as well as the surprise that Vin Diesel is apparently still a box office draw (that $70 million opening weekend for Fast & Furious certainly got the studio's attention in a big way). The search for a director has been on for awhile which also included approval from Diesel himself. Though Core has only directed one previous feature, he's worked with Diesel before while he was director of photography on the first Fast and the Furious. But he might have some particular continuity questions to answer.

You might remember that the 2005 sequel xXx: State of the Union handed the super spy reigns over to Ice Cube. Before the film was released, however, the studio wanted Cohen to shoot something that would answer the question of what happened to Xander Cage. At the time, an apparently bitter Cohen simply decided to kill off the character in a short film that appeared as a DVD extra. Obviously logic and realism aren't at the core of the xXx franchise, so I'm sure there will be some sort of explanation for his survival. We'll keep you posted on the development of this sequel, but that doesn't mean we'll be excited about it.

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions

Michael

The song "Adrenaline" from the first movie was very good.
Edward

How can than screw up a franchise even more I thought that after the last one that they were going to go w/ a female XXX

rahrahrah

remember... thats asian female, not just female... they usually overkill the screwups, and my idea would be just that

Smiley

On the subject of completely pointless sequels how about a Speed 3?
Yuna

I love XXX and Vin Diesel!! Can't wait to see this one.
Darren

okay in the second one the dude said that xander cage was killed in bora bora
http://movies.iconocritic.com peloquin

@3... They're way ahead of you already: http://www.speed3themovie.com/
Jared H

@6 Total fake. If they ever do make a speed 3 it should be on a hot air balloon. A hot air balloon with rocket boosters and a bomb strapped to all the passanger's foreheads. Then there can be a police chase with another hot air balloon painted to look like a police car. Flashing light on the top. "Pull over!". I'm single handedly writing this crop of ingenious crap in front of you. @Topic Leave xXx alone and let it die a happy solemn death. Nobody wants it. #4 was joking. Also lets leave Pitch Black alone while we're at it. No need for a sequel to Chronicles of Riddick. Diesel should just go back to doing kid movies. Pacifier 2: The Dirty Diaper. [/rant]

Byaaaaaaaaaaaah

what bout a hot air baloon w/ boosters, a bomb in the persons buttocks, and the guy hanging from 100LB test fishing line?

http://movies.iconocritic.com peloquin

BRILLIANT JARED!!!
Xerxex

All right I have no idea why I like Vin Diesel, maybe its because of Pitch Black, so I'll say this Xander Cage is actually a good character, so I say go for it. Everybody is quick to bash the actor but it all comes down to the actual script, if the script is good then the movie usually is, another part is the director, if the director is dedicated then we have a good movie, then the rest comes down to the actors; good script, director, and actor then there we go a good movie. Perhaps this director will surprise us all in the end and bring us a bigger, better Xander Cage film. Vin Diesel is actually a good actor if given the right medium, so I'll keep my on this and see what happens.
http://www.chelariu.de Paul

Der Film wird sicherlich gut. Abwarten =)
Bobby J

It's sad to see such promising action hero like Vin Diesel have to go so low to go back against his words. Fist was Fast & Furios now XXX...what's next Pacifier 2???
SlashBeast

Please, kill this series before it embarasses itself any further.
david

The first movie with Vin was a lot of fun. So why all the hate? The best thing this needs is a great script and lots of action. Keeping in line with the backstory of Xander being into Xtreme sports and classic muscle cars.
wHiskey Tango....

Popcorn film Actor for popcorn flicks. If it appeals, people'll go see it. I actually liked the first one, the 2nd one could have been more and a little less "Pimp my ride" I guess. Not a problem with the actual franchise, I just HATED how they tried to distance themselves from Xander Cage. So if they could turn this into a series of mindless popcorn flicks that are WATCHABLE, i'd be willing to give it another chance.
http://www.wank.com Sick Guy

xXx is a sick film, and ok the sequel with Ice cube was a bit ott with the cheesyness. But I would love to see a third one. And if they bring back Vin Diesel the film should definately be a good one. Lookin forward to seeing it if it gets the go ahead.
Jericho

i can understand why they would do this one, since the second one pegged Vinny as being killed in bora bora and the movie flopped after that....or before....whenever....i'm going to watch this when it comes out