‘xXx: Return Of Xander Cage’ Lawsuit Against Vin Diesel Revived

American action film xXx: Return of Xander Cage caused some controversy among the cast and crew back when it was released in January, 2017. While Vin Diesel headlines the popular series, producer George Zakk was furious to realize that he hadn’t been credited for his work on the project after being shut out of the sequel.

As reported by Comic Book, Zakk filed a lawsuit over the incident, which was thrown out shortly after it was filed back in 2016 when he wasn’t contracted to work on the next film. Although it appears the case has gone quiet since then, it’s been started back up again now after a judge reversed the decision to throw out the case.

As part of Zakk’s suit, he claimed that he was not only entitled to credit for his work on that project, but any subsequent films in the series. With the next movie in the series in pre-production right now, this would make it an opportune time to reignite the case in order to ensure that he is credited for his work.

The judge who overturned the ruling in appeals court explained that “Zakk’s claims did not fall under the statute of frauds,” and that this meant he should be able to push on with the lawsuit if he still wants to. Considering he took the ruling to the appeals case, it’s safe to assume that he wants to pursue the case.

“In short, we hold that Zakk’s allegation that he fully performed all of his obligations under the alleged oral or implied-in-fact contract was sufficient to take the contract out of the statute of frauds,” Justice Thomas Willhite wrote. He additionally noted “all promises in the contract are within the Statute of Frauds until one part of the contract completes his performance.”

Zakk’s original claim stated that he was left out of the sequel of the film, and that because of the work he had done on the original, he was entitled to credit for the sequels. When he first filed the suit, he was told that he needed more evidence.

The producer claimed that he had a verbal contract when working on the first film that he would be paid for any sequels that were created if the film was turned into a series instead. He is suing for $2 million, which includes the $200,000 he says they agreed to pay him for sequels, as well as “breach of contract and punitive damages.”

The franchise was rebooted with the 2017 film, after the second one was a major flop at the box office. In the meantime, Vin Diesel has been working on the Fast & Furious franchise, which resulted in his fame and popularity as an action star exploding exponentially. That fame is likely the reason they decided to kick start the franchise again, with another installment due in the next few years.

How the actor is managing to fit more films in between all the Fast & Furious and Avengers films that are still being released is a mystery, but somehow he’s managing to squeeze them into his schedule.