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Banking on the street cred of Fast and The Furious, producer and director Neil Moritz was ready to pull the trigger on his next action pic when Furious delivered a $40.09 million bow in June of last year. Revolution Studios happily found themselves in Moritz's sights, with Vin Diesel caught in the crossfire.

Diesel's management worked out a $7.5 million pay raise from his previous $2.5 million asking price. xXx's $10 million payday for Diesel firmly establishes this budding action star as a force with which to be reckoned. By the time Samuel L. Jackson signed on in September of 2001, the production was ready to roll, and started shooting in November 2001.

With a reported budget of $50 million, Vin Diesel will lead Samuel L. Jackson and Asia Argento to an August 2002 opening that will likely be suitable for most viewers. The action film features Diesel as a celebrity extreme-sports star recruited to be a physical and deadly secret agent.

The teaser trailer features Diesel jumping, dashing, and flying up, over and off as many different vehicles and structures as one could imagine. Particularly interesting is Diesel surfing on the trunk of a Corvette as it plunges off a bridge, his base-jumping parachute at the ready. It's likely there isn't enough popcorn in the theater to soak up the collective adrenaline this film will have coursing through its audiences' veins.

Diesel's star is on the rise, and with Fast and the Furious collecting $144.41 million before parking it in the garage, Vin is becoming a household name. Plus, having Samuel L. Jackson on your team never hurts a movie. His two recent summer actioners, Shaft and Deep Blue Sea, delivered $70.3 million and $73.65 million, respectively.

Since 1998, the average box office for August openers that made more than $10 million opening weekend is $18.11 million. Take away the $67.41 million of Rush Hour 2 and the $45.12 million of American Pie 2 (both in 2001), and the average opening weekend in August over $10 million drops to $15.06 million.

Last summer's stellar performances by Rush Hour 2 and American Pie 2, along with three weeks of genre breathing room, allow for the possibility of a huge opening weekend for this film. K-19: The Widowmaker bows on July 19th, and is the only other action pic opening anywhere near xXx. As for competition opening weekend, M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, starring Mel Gibson, poses the only credible, albeit weak, threat.

August 2002 points to all things coming up Vin, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. (Matt Kinney/BOP)

May 13, 2002
Variety indicates that the studio has elected to push xXx back on week on the schedule, separating it from M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

Vital statistics for xXx Main Cast Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Asia Argento, Marton Csokas, Joe Bucaro III Supporting Cast TeeJay Boyce, Eve, Richard Kruspe, Paul Landres, Till Lindemann, Michael Roof Director Rob Cohen Screenwriter Rich Wilkes Distributor Sony/Columbia Trailer Click Here for Trailer Official Site http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/triplex/ Rating PG-13 Running Time 124 minutes Screen Count 3,536 Also see Stephanie Star Smith reviews the trailer Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for xXx
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
Rush Hour 2	8/3/01	67.41	71.94	3118	21619.00	22193.0	226.14	241.35	3.35
Fast and the Furious, The	6/22/01	40.09	42.78	2628	15255.00	15660.0	144.51	154.23	3.60
Rush Hour	9/18/98	33.00	42.42	2638	12509.00	15469.6	141.17	181.50	4.28
Sixth Sense, The	8/6/99	26.68	31.79	2161	12346.00	14095.8	293.50	349.76	11.00
Shaft	6/16/00	21.71	24.28	2337	9290.00	9996.7	70.30	78.64	3.24
Deep Blue Sea	7/30/99	19.11	22.77	2854	6696.00	7645.0	73.65	87.76	3.54
Pitch Black	2/18/00	11.58	12.95	1832	6321.00	6801.8	39.24	43.89	2.91