The Staggering Amount Of Money Vin Diesel Turned Down For The xXx Sequel
There is no doubt that Vin Diesel is one of the biggest stars working today. He is the poster boy for the "Fast and Furious" franchise, which has grossed over $1.8 billion over 10 entries (via Box Office Mojo.) Though he claims to not care about box office receipts, there's no denying his star power and ability to pull in an audience. He has played a part in several big franchises over the past couple of decades including "Guardians of the Galaxy," "The Last Witch Hunter," and the "Riddick" trilogy. One franchise he almost didn't stay involved with was the "xXx" series.
After receiving some early roles in surprising ways, Diesel launched his career by directing and starring in the short film "Multi-Facial" in 1995. According to the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg caught wind of the short and wanted to meet with Diesel. This led to his role in Spielberg's film "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998. Diesel's breakout would come two years later when he appeared as Riddick in "Pitch Black." That sci-fi horror flick would go on to spawn a trilogy of films, leading to Diesel's first franchise. Following 2001's "The Fast and the Furious," the next franchise that Diesel would kick off was 2002's "xXx." However, Diesel wasn't too keen on sticking with that series. He turned down a pretty staggering payday to return for the sequel.
Diesel turned down $20 million plus profits for two xXx sequels
According to a 2004 interview with USA Today, Vin Diesel turned down $20 million plus profit points to appear in two "xXx" sequels. He told the paper, "The script wasn't right. They changed writers. It wasn't XXX to me." He went on to say he wanted to make a sequel written by the writer of the original film, a script that they ultimately didn't use. He continued, "That was the one I was excited about."
After the release of "xXx: State of the Union" in 2005, which starred Ice Cube instead, Diesel did eventually return to the series with the 2017 film, "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage." When asked about why he decided to return this time, he told Buzz Magazine, "I just think that there is a need to re-visit this type of hero archetype," adding, "I'm so happy to come back to Xander. I always felt that I owed it, I always felt that I was in debt and that sooner rather than later I would have to return to this character and right the wrongs of the past." Right the wrongs of the past he did as the film went on to make $346,118,277 worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
Even with all of these franchises under his belt, Diesel still wants to make one more epic trilogy about a certain historic Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps. He told USA Today in that same 2004 interview, "The only way to stay an underdog is to direct 'Hannibal' as a multilingual film. I've been wanting to do my own 'Braveheart.'" If Diesel ever gets to direct and star in his own "Hannibal" film, perhaps he'll stick around for that sequel ... if the script is right, of course.