XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
XXX: Return of Xander Cage (released as XXX: Reactivated in some countries) is a 2017 American action thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and written by F. Scott Frazier. The film stars Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette, Ariadna Gutiérrez, Hermione Corfield, and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the third installment in the XXX film series and a sequel to both XXX (2002) and XXX: State of the Union (2005). Paramount Pictures released the film on January 20, 2017, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $346 million worldwide against a production budget of $85 million, making it both the franchise’s and Revolution Studios’ highest-grossing film.
Plot.
NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons attempts to recruit footballer Neymar for the Triple-X (XXX) program when a satellite crashes, apparently killing them both. Shortly afterwards, a team of four skilled individuals led by Xiang infiltrate a highly guarded CIA office in New York City and retrieve “Pandora’s Box”, a device which is capable of controlling satellites to crash at specific locations as warheads. CIA Agent Jane Mark tracks down former xXx operative Xander Cage, who faked his death and has been living in self-imposed exile in the Dominican Republic, and convinces him to return to active service to retrieve the device. In London, after enlisting an old friend, Ainsley, for help, Xander tracks down the attackers to the Philippines.RELATED:
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At an RAF outpost in Lakenheath, a unit of Special Forces operatives led by Paul Donovan is assigned to help Xander, but he rejects them in favour of his own team, composed of sharpshooter Adele Wolff, DJ Harvard “Nicks” Zhou, and getaway driver Tennyson “The Torch”. They are also aided by introverted weapons specialist Becky Clearidge. The team locates Xiang and his teammates Serena, Talon and Hawk, and Xander meets Xiang in an underground nightclub on a remote island, where Xiang reveals that his team are also xXx agents, recruited by Gibbons. He claims to have stolen Pandora’s Box to prevent its misuse, although Serena believes they should destroy it.
Shortly after, Russian soldiers raid the island. The group manages to fend off the attackers, while Xiang manages to escape with Pandora’s Box. Xander intercepts Xiang and chases him to a nearby beach. Serena betrays him, destroys the Box and joins Xander’s team, while Xiang escapes and regroups with Talon and Hawk. After another satellite crash in the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Mark determines that the device that Serena destroyed was only a prototype, and that both teams have been wasting time, while Xander determines that CIA Director Anderson is involved in the conspiracy and that the actual Pandora’s Box is in his hands.
Development.
Following the release of XXX in 2002, director Rob Cohen revealed his plans to make XXX a franchise, but an “anarchistic” one with different settings in each film, without anyone from the original film returning except Vin Diesel as Xander Cage. Working on a sequel and planning as well a third and fourth film, Cohen had two scripts in development, one taking place in Southeast Asia and involving Malacca strait pirates and the other taking place in Washington, D.C. and involving the United States Secret Service. Diesel explained that one of the two scripts was written by Rich Wilkes and the other was written by an unnamed writer, but Wilkes’ script was the one he wanted as it excited him the most. However, Diesel ultimately opted out from making a second XXX film, which was titled XXX: State of the Union, due to disliking the script, feeling that it “didn’t feel XXX” for him.RELATED:
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Casting.
In January 2014, Vin Diesel confirmed work on a sequel tentatively titled XXX: The Return of Xander Cage. On August 23, 2015, Vin Diesel announced on his Instagram page that “While I was filming xXx, guys on set called me Air Diesel… The time to return has come. Filming starts December in the Philippines. #ILiveForThisShit…”. On October 10, 2015, it was reported that director D. J. Caruso would direct the film. Diesel announced that UFC fighter Conor McGregor was cast in a role and that Jackson will be reprising his role as Gibbons. However, in April 2016 it was announced McGregor had dropped out of his planned appearance to focus on training and the UFC; he was replaced by Michael Bisping. On January 1, 2016, Twitch Film reported that Tony Jaa, Jet Li and Deepika Padukone were cast in roles. The following week, Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose were also cast. Dobrev would be playing a witty and sarcastic techie, while Padukone would play a huntress who happens to be Cage’s former lover. Rose would play a sniper.
Filming.
Principal photography began on February 2, 2016, primarily at Cinespace Film Studios’ Kipling Avenue facility in Toronto, Ontario. It was also filmed on location in Hamilton, Ontario. Filming lasted until May 20, 2016, and also took place in Pinewood Indomina Studios, Dominican Republic and the Philippines.
Box office.
XXX: Return of Xander Cage grossed $44.9 million in the United States and Canada and $301.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $346.3 million, against a production budget of $85 million. In North America, the film was released alongside Split, The Founder, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone and the wide expansion of 20th Century Women, and was expected to gross $16–20 million from about 3,651 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $1.2 million from its Thursday night previews at 2,536 theaters. It ended up grossing $20 million, finishing second at the box office behind Split ($40.2 million) and ranking as the second-highest debut of the XXX franchise. Worldwide, the film had an opening weekend of $70.5 million, nearly totaling the amount its predecessor made during its entire theatrical run ($71.1 million). In China, Paramount focused marketing efforts on Donnie Yen, placing him at the front of some film posters ahead of Vin Diesel,
and shared clips and reviews of Yen’s performance in the film on popular Chinese social media site Weibo. Paramount’s efforts worked very well in China. XXX was number one in its opening weekend with $61.9 million, and crossed the $100 million mark in just six days with $22.2m coming from Valentine’s Day alone after reviews praising Donnie Yen’s performance sweeps through Chinese social media, driving moviegoers to the cinema. Aside from Donnie Yen, the digital focused marketing was also credited for the film’s success.
Kris Wu’s popularity was also a key factor and his music video for his song in the XXX soundtrack garnered 40 million views ahead of the film’s release in China. The film joined Terminator Genisys and Warcraft as the only Hollywood releases to earn $100 million in China without making $100 million in the United States. The largest territory for the film is China, with US$164 million.