Tag: Dolph Lundgren

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Expendables’: Next Installment Recruits Megan Fox, 50 Cent & Tony Jaa

The Expendable franchise sort of hit a wall with The Expendables 3, when Lionsgate/Millennium Media saw dollar signs by pivoting from a mature R-rating to a kid-friendly PG-13. However, this wasn’t the big money-maker the studio had hoped and it ended up becoming the least successful installment. I guess children weren’t terribly interested in seeing disgraced actor Mel Gibson and Sly Stallone going at in action film.

Seven years later and they are finally moving forward with another film, however, aren’t calling it Expendables 4.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms that the untitled pic will see franchise stars Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture return. The new recruits will include Megan Fox (Rogue, Transformers, Jennifer’s Body), 50 Cent (Escape Plan, Den of Thieves), and Thai martial artist Ton Jaa (Fast & Furious 7).

Previously, the film had been talked-up as a solo project for Statham’s character Lee Christmas and wouldn’t have as much of Stallone’s Barney Ross in the film as fans might expect. Stallone had recently referred to the project as a “spinoff” with the working title Christmas Story.

Sources say in this outing Statham will be the one with the biggest gun. Fox is the female lead.

Scott Waugh (Need For Speed) will direct from a script penned by Spenser Cohen with revisions by Max Adams and John Joseph Connolly.

As previously mentioned by Stallone, production is aiming to begin in October.

Stallone is coming off James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Statham was recently seen in Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man and David Leitch’s Hobbs & Shaw.

We should expect a release date in 2022.

THE EXPENDABLES 3 – Years ago, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) co-founded the Expendables with Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). After Stonebanks became an arms dealer, Ross was forced to kill him — or so he thought. Now, Stonebanks is back and he’s on a mission to end the Expendables. Ross decides that the way to fight old blood is with new blood, so he assembles a team of younger, faster, more tech-savvy recruits. The battle to topple Stonebanks becomes a clash of old-school methods vs. high-tech expertise.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Expendables 4’: Sly Stallone Teases Fourth Installment Might Finally Start Shooting Soon

There’s been multiple hiccups and delays concerning studio plans to move forward with a fourth Expendables installment. However, Sly Stallone in the last two years has retired from both the Rambo and Rocky/Creed franchises allowing him to do The Expendables 4, something that has been in development for over five years now.

The movies focus on a team of professional mercenaries based out of the United States, that normally are assigned to rescue missions or operations deemed too dangerous. Their main draw over the years has been pitting various action stars together that previous have never worked together on the big screen. Notable stars include Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, Chuck Norris, Antonio Banderas, Mickey Rourke, and Mel Gibson.

Stallone has taken to Instagram over the weekend to tease that the project might finally be underway in the near future. Showing off a new ring for his character Barney.

“Just finished the designing the new ring for EXPENDABLE 4 It’s a little heavy, but it’ll definitely put some muscles on your fingertips,” Stallone said in his post on Instagram.

There have been expectations that Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Arnold Schwarzenegger would be part of the cast, but no major announcements concerning a director or who will be joining Stallone have been made public. Also, there had been a spinoff film reported on a while back that would have focused on Statham’s Lee Christmas, but that seemed to fizzle-out and it’s unknown if that was actually Expendables 4 or not.

Gregory Poirier was the last screenwriter attached to the project and had been expected to shoot in Sofia, Bulgaria at some point.

Expendables 3 attempted a PG-13 rating in what I assume was the studio’s push to make more money, but the film ended up making the least at the box office out of the three installments with only $214.6 million globally, $100 million less than Expendables 2. Hopefully, they’ll wise-up and return to a mature rating given there aren’t many kids out there looking to spend cash watching aging action stars huff and puff for our entertainment.

SOURCE: SLY STALLONE