vin diesel

It looks like Vin Diesel has bested Dwayne Johnson in at least one arena, clocking in at number one on Forbes’ list of the highest-grossing actors of 2017 — and throwing a little more fuel on that Fast & Furious feud (say that five times fast). Thanks to The Fate of the Furious and xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Diesel edged out his Fast co-star / arch-nemesis, and with fewer 2017 releases under his belt.

FYI dudes, a new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 trailer is premiering tomorrow night on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (that guy sure is having a good week), and even though it’s only a day and some change away, Marvel has generously offered up a short teaser for James Gunn’s highly-anticipated sequel. In addition to showing off what appears to be the space-equivalent of a campfire, the new sneak peek reveals our first look at the return of Nebula, played by Karen Gillan.

We’ve done our waiting, and now it’s finally here — feast your eyes on the first official Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 trailer! All of our favorites are back, plus a few new faces and one very big tentacle monster. This trailer keeps the rock music vibe of the first movie alive with their choice of Sweet’s “Fox on the Run,” and it looks just as fun, if not even more fun, than its predecessor.

Well that was quick! Not long after debuting the first official teaser poster, James Gunn has revealed the first honest-to-goodness teaser for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 — and if you were digging that poster, you’re going to love this teaser, which features the delightfully familiar sound of “ooga chaka, ooga chaka, ooga ooga chaka.” Everyone sing along!

The mystery that plagued the internet for one whole day has now been solved.

Back when he was a full-time pro wrestler, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson built his reputation on his inspired mic work, and particularly the inventive way he insulted his opponents. Guys who dared challenge his WWE supremacy were “jabronis” and “roody poo candy asses.” Said candy asses would face the wrath of a smackdown, verbal and otherwise. He’d ask them a question, like “What’s your name?” then interrupt before they could answer. (“It doesn’t matter what your name is!!”) Or Johnson would tell them to grab something and stick it straight up their candy asses. (You may begin to sense a theme here.)

Following his incredible CGI work in Life of Pi, Ang Lee took a similarly ambitious approach with his latest project, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. We’ve been intrigued for months by reports that Lee shot the action sequences in 120fps to give them a more realistic and immersive feel, and while you can’t really grasp that in the first trailer, it’s still plenty compelling.

After weeks of sharing behind-the-scenes photos from the set, Vin Diesel finally has a release date for his return to the xXx franchise. xXx: The Return of Xander Cage will arrive in theaters in 2017 — between that and Fast 8 (and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!), we’ll have plenty of extreme Vin Diesel adrenaline junkie action to keep us busy next year.

Though Fast and Furious 7 seemed like an obvious, but tragic way to bring the franchise to a close, there was no way Universal Pictures was going to walk away from a franchise that was still bringing in over $350 million. So, Vin Diesel did what he does: he announced a new Fast and Furious trilogy last year that would end the franchise for good (and by “for good” we mean for a few years until they reboot it with a new cast). Fast and Furious 8 had already been scheduled for a April 14, 2017 release, but now Universal Pictures has given those last two Fast and Furious movies release dates as well.

The first movie I remember seeing Vin Diesel in was Saving Private Ryan in 1998. But back in 1994 the unknown Vin got a job working a booth for Mattel at a toy fair. His job, apparently, was demonstrating Mattel's new line of Street Shark action figures.

With James Wan not returning to direct the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, Furious 8 is in desperate need of someone to sit behind the camera before Vin Diesel decides to just do the job himself. But it looks like Universal has narrowed their options down to just a few directors, each of them interesting choices in their own right.

The Fast and Furious franchise wouldn’t be where it is now without Vin Diesel. The films didn’t even kick into high gear until Diesel returned for 2009’s Fast and Furious, and the box-office numbers have been climbing astronomically since then. To say Universal owes Vin Diesel a gigantic debt of gratitude is an understatement, but exactly how much do they owe him? Would they actually let Diesel, who has little experience directing a movie let alone directing a movie on the scale of a Fast and Furious film, behind the camera of Fast and Furious 8? According to a new report, this may be what Vin Diesel wants and Universal is terrified.