'Bloodshot': Is Vin Diesel A Movie Star Outside Of The 'Fast And Furious' And 'xXx' Films?

Somewhat lost amid the flurry of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer content was Sony's first trailer for Bloodshot. The February 21, 2020 release is an adaptation of a Valiant Comics title and it'll be yet another chance for Vin Diesel to show that folks will pay to see him in something other than the Fast and Furious movies. Okay, yes, xXx: Return of Xander Cage earned $164 million in China alone, leading to a $385 million global cume on an $85 million budget. A fourth Xander Cage adventure is currently in development, but I think all parties are hoping that it can do better than the last film's $45 million domestic total. After all, xXx opened with $44 million alone in the summer of 2002.

It was the relative failure of Vin Diesel's post- Fast & Furious projects between 2003 and 2008 that allowed the franchise to become what it is today. Had the likes of The Chronicles of Riddick ($115 million in 2004), A Man Apart ($44 million) and Babylon AD ($72 million in 2008)performed better, he may not have been compelled to return for what would become Fast & Furious ($360 million in 2009). I'd argue that the entire success of The Fast and Furious series is one failure after another leading to a winning formula, but that's for another day. Despite Diesel's best efforts to turn his favorite fantasy tropes/properties into viable franchises, well, did you see The Last Witch Hunter ($146 million in 2015)and/or Riddick ($98 million in 2013)in theaters?

Bloodshot concerns a soldier who gets killed along with his wife only to be resurrected and enhanced by nanotechnology to make him a superhuman, biotech killing machine. You might say that Ray Garrison has been given... an Upgrade! Jokes aside, Bloodshot does look, from a cinematic standpoint, like a fine example of ripping off classic sci-fi properties rather than rebooting or remaking them. Source fidelity aside, this looks like another fun playdate in the sandbox unofficially created by The Wraith back in 1986 and furthered nurtured via the likes of Robocop, The Crow and, yes, Leigh Whannell's cult favorite Upgrade. In a cruel irony, folks claiming to want original content led Upgrade to a whopping $14.5 million worldwide while giving the slightly similar Venom $854 million months later.

Regardless, Venom 2 is knee-deep in production, we may eventually get an Upgrade sequel and meanwhile development of that reboot/remake of The Crow is nearing its ninth year in development hell. As I said three (!) years ago, had Hollywood just ripped off The Crow back in 2011/2012, they'd probably have had a trilogy by now. Moreover, xXx, which did gross $277 million on a $90 million budget in 2002, was itself an original "James Bond, but a little different" hit that did eventually spawn a trilogy. For that matter, The Fast & The Furious was a loose remake of Point Break, and it spawned a nearly $6 billion-grossing property from nine (and counting) movies. Meanwhile, the Point Break remake earned $133 million on a $105 million budget.

None of this is to say that Bloodshot will be any good (it looks enjoyable enough in a Saturday matinee or "cheap ticket Tuesday" fashion), or that it will be rewarded for at least being a new-to-cinema adaptation that isn't explicitly remaking a prior cinematic glory. But in our rebranded/recycled cinematic landscape, it's actually noteworthy to see a "new" movie that reminds you of another movie without explicitly being related to that other film. And yes, as an elevator pitch, Robocop meets Upgrade meets Memento sounds pretty swell. Here's to hoping...