Stallone will play villain in next ''Spy Kids''

Sylvester Stallone will face off against his smallest opponents yet in his next movie, and he’s likely to get his ass kicked. Still, it’ll probably be a hit for the actor, whose career is badly in need of one. It’s the third installment in the ”Spy Kids” franchise, in which, Variety reports, Stallone will play a villain called the Toymaker.

In “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over,” Stallone’s baddie traps young heroine Carmen (Alexa Vega) in a virtual-reality game, and the rest of her secret agent family — brother Juni (Daryl Sabara), their parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino), and their grandfather (Ricardo Montalban) — must come to the rescue. Director Robert Rodriguez, who shot the first two action spectacles on a budget and reaped a total of $196 million at the U.S. box office, only just started filming, but he expects to get the movie into theaters on July 25. ”I’ve always been a big fan of Sylvester Stallone,” he tells Variety. ”His larger-than-life persona will be a great addition to the ‘Spy Kids 3-D’ universe.”

As the title indicates, the movie will be in 3-D, but it won’t look cheesy, Rodriguez promises. ”The technology has advanced significantly, thanks to the advent of high-definition digital moviemaking,” he said last week in a statement. The 3-D effects are an outgrowth of the virtual-reality plotline, he said. ”Once the characters go into the videogame, the audience puts on the glasses, and it’s in 3-D,” Rodriguez said. In the game’s universe, ”anything is possible. In fact, Ricardo Montalban, at 82 years old,. gets to lava surf and ride an ultra-cool motorbike.” That bike sounds like a must-have; does it come upholstered in fine Corinthian leather?