AceShowbiz - Be ready for more adrenaline pumping actions from Xander Cage. The H Collective and Vin Diesel/One Race Films have acquired rights to the "xXx" franchise from Revolution Studios and have announced that the fourth installment is on the way.

Diesel will reprise his role as Xander Cage, with D.J. Caruso, who directed 2017's "xXx: Return of Xander Cage", set to return as the helm. Production on "xXx4" is scheduled to begin in December this year, but a release date is not yet announced.

H Collective CEO Nic Crawley says of the acquisition, "During my time at Paramount I was lucky to be involved in the development and distribution of 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage'. The response from the Chinese box office was unprecedented. Bringing the next installment of the 'xXx' franchise to The H Collective complements our diversified slate and mission to produce content for a global audience."

The "xXx" franchise began with the first film starring Vin Diesel in 2002. It grossed $277.4 million worldwide. The second film, "xXx: State of the Union", was released in 2005, but without Diesel in the lead. Starring Ice Cube as a new agent in the Triple X program, the movie failed to follow the success of the first film, raking in just $71 million worldwide.

After more than a decade, the franchise is revived with the third installment, "Xander Cage", which was released in 2017. Diesel returned as the athlete-turned-reluctant spy. With Chinese actor Donnie Yen joining the cast, the movie was tailor-made for international audiences. The strategy worked as the movie went to gross $346.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $85 million, despite getting mixed or average reviews.

There are no words if there's any other "Xander Cage" star returning for the fourth film besides Diesel. Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum will again produce with Diesel and Samantha Vincent for One Race Films and The H Collective.

D.J. Caruso had been optimistic that there would be another "xXx" movie. "There's definitely hope for a sequel. We're talking about it now," he said after the third film hit theaters. "We didn't perform as well as we would have liked to, particularly in North America, but the global pull...the global pull has been really strong, and there is definitely a desire to do it again."