Paramount Pictures has set the premiere date for Vin Diesel‘s “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.”
The sequel will blast into theaters on Jan. 20, 2017. D.J. Caruso is directing from a script by Chad St. John and F. Scott Frazier. Joe Roth will produce with Diesel, among others, while Revolution executives Vince Totino and Scott Hemming will serve as executive producers.
Paramount is teaming on the high-octane sequel with Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films and Diesel’s One Race Films.
After sitting out 2005’s “xXx: State of the Union,” Diesel returns to the franchise to reprise his role as Xander Cage, the extreme sports junkie/secret agent.
This time around, he’ll be joined by Samuel L. Jackson (who appeared in the first two films as NSA agent August Gibbons), Toni Collette, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose, Hermione Corfield, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and martial-arts sensations Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa and Conor McGregor. Chinese superstar Kris Wu also recently joined the cast.
Released in 2002, the original “xXx” helped establish Diesel as a major box office draw. The film grossed over $277 million worldwide against a reported $70 million budget.
The sequel “State of the Union,” which starred Ice Cube, fared nowhere near as well and settled for a disappointing $71 million worldwide.