Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson and director Rob Cohen are all back on board for “xXx 3D” (we just felt dumber typing that out).
The project, which still has a chance of falling apart if Paramount decides not to fund the thing, would be shot in 3D and get started once Diesel completes work on his other terrible franchise film, “Fast & Furious.” The plot this time around finds xXxander Cage “left for dead, but return[ing] to execute a very difficult assignment that only he can pull off. Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as Agent Augustus Gibbons, Xander’s handler.” Uh ohs!
The film was originally set up at Columbia, who were burned when Cohen’s last big budget feature for the studio, “Stealth,” tanked horribly. That said, Cohen did direct “The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor” which earned over $400 million worldwide and who seems to be comfortable in the kinds of films that evoke the “Hey, I recognize that movie title…..let’s go see that” response from moviegoers. And if you’re wondering why anyone is even considering another “xXx” film after part two, “State Of The Union,” died on arrival, its because somehow, Diesel’s shining bald head and monotonous line deliveries really resonate with audiences. We wish we knew why.
In the meantime, Cohen is shooting the first 3D commercial for Coca Cola. That’s right, even soda ads are gonna come out with 3D. After that he’ll begin work overseeing the conversion of ten Merchant Ivory films to 3D as well, in hopes to bring the format to the arthouse crowd. Just kidding on that one, but at the rate this 3D trend is going it doesn’t sound that crazy.
