The XXX film series, stylized as xXx and pronounced Triple X, is an American action-packed spy fiction franchise that was created by Rich Wilkes. The series is comprised of three full-length feature films: XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005), and XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), as well as a short film entitled The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage. With a worldwide gross of $694 million, the series has been a commercial success.
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Table of Contents
XXX (2002)
The action film XXX (2002) follows the story of Xander Cage, played by Vin Diesel, a rebellious athlete and extreme sports enthusiast who is recruited by the National Security Agency for a dangerous mission. Cage is tasked with infiltrating a group of potential Russian terrorists in Central Europe.
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The film also features Asia Argento, Marton Csokas and Samuel L. Jackson in prominent roles. Directed by Rob Cohen, who also directed Diesel in The Fast and the Furious (2001), the film was released on August 9, 2002 and received mixed reviews.
XXX: State of the Union (2005)
XXX: State of the Union is the second film in the XXX film series, released on April 29, 2005. The film stars Ice Cube as Darius Stone, a new agent in the Triple X program. In the film, Stone is sent to Washington, DC to stop a military coup and defuse a power struggle amongst national leaders.
The film also features actors such as Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Samuel L. Jackson (reprising his role as Agent Augustus Gibbons), and Peter Strauss. The film was directed by Lee Tamahori and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
In the 2017 film XXX: Return of Xander Cage, Vin Diesel reprises his role as Xander Cage, who is believed to be dead but returns from his self-imposed exile. Xander races against a deadly alpha warrior and his team to recover Pandora’s Box, a powerful and unstoppable weapon.
Along the way, Xander recruits a new group of thrill-seekers and becomes entangled in a deadly conspiracy that involves collusion at the highest levels of government. The film was released on January 20, 2017.
XXX 4 (TBA)
A fourth film in the XXX franchise is currently in development, as announced in September 2018. The project will be a joint-venture production between The H Collective and iQiyi, with franchise rights acquired by the former from Revolution Studios.
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D.J. Caruso is expected to return as director, while Vin Diesel will reprise his role as Xander Cage. Production was originally scheduled to begin in early 2019. In November 2018, Jay Chou and Zoe Zhang were added to the cast. Additionally, Japanese rock star and musician Yoshiki has been announced as the film’s composer.
The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage (2005)
The 2005 director’s cut DVD of the first film includes a four-minute short titled The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage, which serves as a prequel to XXX: State of the Union. It details the alleged death of Xander Cage before the events of that film. In the short film, Xander is played by Vin Diesel’s stunt double Khristian Lupo, who never shows his face or speaks, while reusing some archival lines spoken by Diesel.
Leila Arcieri reprises her role as Jordan King from the first film, and John G. Connolly portrays Lt. Colonel Alabama “Bama” Cobb, one of the villains from XXX: State of the Union, who is Deckert’s right-hand man and the man behind the attack on Xander.
The sequence begins with Xander and King driving in a car, and they stop next to his apartment building. After making sexual overtures to Xander, King is abducted by Cobb’s men. They plant a bomb in the building and drop King’s coat on the steps to trick Xander into going back to the building. After confronting a homeless man, Xander returns and is apparently blown apart by a huge explosion.
His trademark coat survives the blast, and Cobb picks up a piece of burnt skin from Xander’s neck with the Triple X tattoo on it. He remarks, “Poor Xander, you never had very much between the ears,” before driving off with his men. The motive behind Xander’s death is to prevent him from interfering with Deckert’s plans. “Feuer Frei” by Rammstein plays in the background during the sequence.
XXX Film Series Video games
A video game based on the character Xander Cage was developed for Game Boy Advance and released in North America and Europe. The game received an E rating in North America and a 3+ rating in Europe, unlike the PG-13 rating of the film. In 2004, Warthog Games began developing a XXX game for the Xbox, but the project was ultimately cancelled. However, a prototype of the game was leaked onto the Hidden Palace website in February of 2022.
XXX Film Series Cast and crew
List of cast and crew for the XXX Film Series:
Cast:
- Xander Cage: Vin Diesel (2002, 2017)
- NSA Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons: Samuel L. Jackson (2002, archive recordings)
- Darius Stone: Ice Cube (2005)
- Toby Lee Shavers: Michael Roof (2002, 2005)
- Jordan King: Leila Arcieri (2002)
- Alabama “Bama” Cobb: John G. Connolly (2002, 2005)
- Yorgi: Martin Csokas (2002)
- Yelena: Asia Argento (2002)
- Milan Sova: Richy Mรผller (2002)
- Kirill: Werner Daehn (2005)
- Kolya: Petr Jรกkl (2002)
- Viktor: Jan Pavel Filipensky (2002)
- California State Senator Dick Hotchkiss: Tom Everett (2005)
- El Jefe: Danny Trejo (2005)
- NSA Agent Jim McGrath: Thomas Ian Griffth (2005)
- J.J.: Eve (2005)
- NSA Agent Roger Donnan: William Hope (2005)
- Ivan Pedgrag: Radek Tomecka (2005)
- Ivan Podrov: Martin Hub (2005)
- General George Deckert: Willem Dafoe (2005)
- NSA Agent Kyle Christopher Steele: Scott Speedman (2005)
- U.S. President James Sanford: Peter Strauss (2005)
- Zeke: Xzibit (2005)
- Charlie Mayweather: Sunny Mabrey (2005)
- Lola Jackson: Nona Gaye (2005)
- NSA Agent Meadows: Ramon De Ocampo (2005)
- Xiang: Donnie Yen (2017)
- Serena Unger: Deepika Padukone (2017)
- Becky Clearidge: Nina Dobrev (2017)
- Adele Wolff: Ruby Rose (2017)
- Talon: Tony Jaa (2017)
- Jane Marke: Toni Collette (2017)
- Harvard “Nicks” Zhou: Kris Wu (2017)
- Tennyson “Torch”: Rory McCann (2017)
- CIA Director Anderson: Al Sapienza (2017)
- Gina Roff: Ariadna Gutiรฉrrez (2017)
- Hawk: Michael Bisping (2017)
- Ainsley: Hermione Corfield (2017)
- Red Erik: Andrey Ivchenko (2017)
- Neymar Jr.: Neymar (2017)
Crew:
- XXX: Directed by Rob Cohen, written by Rich Wilkes, produced by Neal H. Moritz, cinematography by Dean Semler, music by Randy Edelman, edited by Chris Lebenzon, Joel Negron, and Paul Rubell.
- XXX: State of the Union: Directed by Lee Tamahori, written by Simon Kinberg, produced by Neal H. Moritz, Arne L. Schmidt, cinematography by David Tattersall, music by Marco Beltrami, edited by Mark Goldblatt, Todd E. Miller, and Steven Rosenblum.
- XXX: Return of Xander Cage: Directed by D. J. Caruso, written by F. Scott Frazier, produced by Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Vin Diesel, and Samantha Vincent, cinematography by Russell Carpenter, music by Brian Tyler, edited by Robert Lydecker, Jim Page, and Vince Filippone.
- XXX 4: Directed by TBA, written by Derek Haas, produced by Yoshiki and TBA.
The XXX Film Series has been directed by various filmmakers, including Rob Cohen for the first film, “XXX,” in 2002, Lee Tamahori for the second film, “XXX: State of the Union,” in 2005, D. J. Caruso for the third film, “XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” in 2017, and Derek Haas for the upcoming fourth film, “XXX 4.”
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The writers for each film have also varied. Rich Wilkes wrote the first film, while Simon Kinberg, Arne L. Schmidt, and David Tattersall wrote the script for the second film. F. Scott Frazier wrote the screenplay for the third film, and the writer for the upcoming fourth film has not yet been announced.
Neal H. Moritz has produced all the films in the series, except for “XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” which was produced by Joe Roth, Jeff Kirschenbaum, Vin Diesel, and Samantha Vincent.
The cinematographers for the films have included Dean Semler for the first film, David Tattersall for the second film, Russell Carpenter for the third film, and Yoshiki for the upcoming fourth film.
The music for the films has been composed by Randy Edelman, Marco Beltrami, Brian Tyler, and Yoshiki.
The film editors have included Chris Lebenzon, Joel Negron, Paul Rubell, Mark Goldblatt, Todd E. Miller, Steven Rosenblum, Robert Lydecker, Jim Page, and Vince Filippone.
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