LOS ANGELES, Jan 18 — Vin Diesel’s 2002 action film xXx took US$277 million (RM1.2 billion) internationally — and then the Fast & Furious franchise took off. 2015’s Furious 7 steamrolled to US$1.5 billion worldwide. Has extreme sports spy movie xXx: Return of Xander Cage got what it takes to compete?

Who’s in it and what’s it about?

Vin Diesel returns to the spy action series that he helped launch in 2002, having skipped franchise sequel xXx: State of the Union in 2005 (the Fast & Furious franchise had its third film out in 2006.) This time he’s got a bit of an entourage.

Engaged in a race to locate and retrieve a missing superweapon, extreme sportsman and sometime government agent Xander Cage recruits a team of like-minded outsiders to help him get the upper hand.

Cue spectacular stunts, shiny cars, elite equipment, and odds stacked against the movie’s band of action heroes.

Opposing him is Xiang (played by Donnie Yen of Rogue One); joining an ensemble cast are Indian star actress Deepika Padukone (Chennai Express), Chinese-Canadian Kris Wu (Somewhere Only We Know), Ruby Rose (Orange Is the New Black), Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak, Furious 7), Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Rory McCann (Game of Thrones), Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) and even Barcelona’s Brazilian football player Neymar Jr.

Who’s behind it?

D.J. Caruso made his feature film debut directing another high-profile Hollywood actor, Val Kilmer, in The Salton Sea. Since then he’s been behind the camera for another eight features including Disturbia and YA fiction adaptations Standing Up and I Am Number Four; it was the debut seasons of The Shield and Smallville that have been most well received so far.

When’s it out?

The PG-13 rated xXx: Return of Xander Cage, also known as xXx: Reactivated in some territories, is making its big splash this week.

That’s when it debuts in France as well as Indonesia, opening in Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Germany, the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, and Singapore from the 19th, for example, and in the US and Canada, Spain, Taiwan, and South Africa on the 20th.

Chinese theatres are dated for February 10, with Japan coming on board from February 24.

Trailers & Social

Official trailer: youtu.be/-ziu6JzJTZ0, facebook.com/ReturnofXanderCageMovie/videos/662772390547657

Facebook page: facebook.com/ReturnofXanderCageMovie

Instagram account: instagram.com/xxxmovie

Twitter feed: twitter.com/xxxmovie

Official website: returnofxandercage.com — AFP-Relaxnews