The third entry in the XXX franchise – XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE – didn’t do so hot in North America, but across the world it did gangbusters business, so per the laws of the universe, a fourth outing is on the way. We can expect to see some new faces pop up in the series, and now one of them will be played by Taiwanese musician and actor Jay Chou, who American audiences may know as Kato from THE GREEN HORNET and NOW YOU SEE ME 2.
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No word yet on who he will be playing, but he will join star Vin Diesel in the sequel to the action flick, which is set to be directed by D.J. Caruso. Known as the “King of Mandopop”, Chou is a major star overseas who has released tons of hit albums and has been working as a mentor on THE VOICE in China. Chou spoke highly of Caruso, saying, “I’ve met DJ a number of times over the past few months and it’s very clear how talented he is as a director. I am looking forward to working with him and Vin in bringing this film to global audiences. This is an incredibly exciting film which I’m beyond happy to join.”
Along with Chou, frequent Jackie Chan collaborator Zoe Zhang has also joined the cast.
The movie is being produced by The H Collective, with additional funding from Chan's Sparkle Roll Media, Star League Media, Dadi Huarui, iQiyi Pictures and Fulcrum Management Co. As well, Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum will be producing with Diesel and Samantha Vincent under the One Race Films banner. It’s no wonder so many Chinese companies are getting on board with the movie, as RETURN OF XANDER CAGE made $168 million of its over $300 million global haul in China – which is almost quadruple what it made domestically. Word is production on the movie is set to begin in 2019, which means we will probably get an early 2020 release, much like the early 2017 release of the last movie.
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To put it mildly, I was not a fan of the latest outing of extreme action, but hey, clearly there are plenty of people around the world who are willing to pay their dollars with watch Vin Diesel try and do motorbike and skateboarding stunts. I can't see the fourth movie doing better here than the third one did, but if it does just as well overseas we can expect this series to go as long as the FAST series, so god help us.