Tag: Sly Stallone

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Expendables 4’ Lands Franchise Low Opening With $8.3M After A Nearly Decade Absence

“The Expendables” was a bit of a curiosity when it originally hit theaters in 2010 as the Sly Stallone-directed action film looked to not only resurrect the careers of various action stars but also tried to bring back a certain type of R-rated action film that got popularized in the 1980-1990s. Echoing the ultra-violence that Stallone had previously brought with his film “John Rambo.” In the wake of the superhero genre, it was a nice bit of counterprogramming to see Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and others assembling including cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This would continue with the second installment seeing Jean Claude Van Damme and Scott Adkins playing villains with Willis and Schwarzenegger getting boosted action-focused scenes also with a cameo of sorts from former martial artist Chuck Norris leaning into his legendary badass status.

However, when it came to “The Expendables 3” the studio decided to court a younger audience by throwing off the mature rating for a more box office friendly PG-13. That didn’t seem to work out for the sequel as it ended up only earning $214.6 million at the global box office, a near hundred million dip from what “The Expendables 2” had made in 2012 and seemed to be a cautionary tale about switching ratings during a successful run in the quest for more box office dollars.

Nearly a decade later Lionsgate/Millineum Media is finally back with “The Expendables 4” as they hoped to coax back that mature audience. An audience that has since been entertained by four “John Wick” installments (“John Wick 4” earning Lionsgate $426.5 million earlier in the year) and expecting a lot more from action leads delivering actual fights alongside inventive sequences, an increasing issue with Stallone pushing 80 and other co-stars not getting any younger. The studio being aware of this seemingly pivoted to Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas stepping up as the franchise lead with new additions like Megan Fox and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent), who aren’t exactly action-genre royalty like Statham has become.

Well, it looks like the opening domestic numbers are in and they’re already drastically behind “The Expendables 3” ($15.8 million) with an estimated $8.3 million and nabbing the #2 spot behind “The Nun II,” which is much lower than the projected $15 million and is now a franchise low for the studio. For some perspective, the original film from 2010 opened to an impressive $34.8 million and given an assumed $90-100 million production budget this isn’t exactly good news for Lionsgate.

This doesn’t bode well for future installments and it’s unclear if the overseas markets can make up these hiccups. Statham isn’t always seen as a box office champ, but earlier this year his blockbuster shark pic “Meg 2: The Trench” at Warner Bros. was able to rake in $390.7 million.

SOURCE: BOX OFFICE MOJO

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

Sly Stallone Says He’ll Shoot Jason Statham’s ‘Expendables’ Spinoff ‘Christmas Story’ In October

While we’ll likely have to wait a little longer to see The Expendables 4 finally get made, a spinoff is moving forward according to Sly Stallone.

Stallone took to Instagram to announce that he’ll be shooting in October the Lee Christmas spinoff, Christmas Story, focusing on Jason Statham’s character. The project has been in the works for ages, but looks like is actually happening now.

“Off to shoot the spinoff of Expendables (Temp. working title is Christmas Story) in Oct.”

Stallone is coming off a fun performance as King Shark in James Gunn’s DC Comics film The Suicide Squad, there had been rumors how Barney Ross would factor into the spinoff but hopefully things have changed. The actor has since retired iconic roles such as Rocky Balboa (won’t appear in Michael B. Jordan’s Creed III) and John Rambo, but seemingly will stick around to make Christmas Story and Expendables 4.

Jason Statham has been working a string of action flicks such as David Leitch’s Hobbs & Shaw, Guy Ritchie’s armored car thriller Wrath of Man, appeared in F9: The Fast Saga, and has wrapped on Ritchie’s spy flick formerly known as Five Eyes. There is also development on a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw, but remains to be seen when that will shoot.

We’ve seen three previous installments in The Expendables franchise, with the last installment pivoting from an R-rating to PG-13 in an attempt to boost box office only to become lowest earning film out of the three.

It’s unknown at this point if other familiar cast members will join the action pic.

THE EXPENDABLES – A group of mercenaries is double-crossed during a mission and are approached by Church to overthrow the ruthless dictator of a South American country. It isn’t long before the men realize things aren’t quite as they appear, finding themselves caught in a dangerous web of betrayal. Although their mission is compromised and an innocent is in danger, soldier of fortune Barney and his comrades decide to get the job done.

SOURCE: SLY STALLONE

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

Posted on in Film News

Sly Stallone Confirms He Won’t Be Appearing In Michael B. Jordan-Directed ‘Creed 3’ & Teases ‘Rocky’ Prequel Series

There was some exciting news concerning Creed 3 as MGM had decided to get Michael B. Jordan, the star of the spinoff of Sly Stallone’s Rocky franchise, would be making his feature film directorial debut on the third installment. They’ve already given the sequel a release date of November 23, 2022.

However, there is an update from Sly Stallone stating he’s unlikely gong to play Rocky Balboa again for it. In an exchange with a fan on Instagram (spotted by JoBlo), Stallone revealed he wouldn’t be reprising the role of Rocky Balboa in Creed 3. This echoes previous suggestions made by the actor on social media that Creed II was going to be the last one he would be involved with.

STALLONE: “It will be done but I won’t be in It. Keep punching.”

Interestingly enough, a week ago Stallone teased a pitch he was coming together for a Rocky prequel series.

STALLONE: “This may be the strangest posting yet. I started out this morning by writing a treatment for a Rocky prequel For streaming. Ideally 10 episodes for a few seasons to really get to the heart of the Characters in there younger years – Here is a small portion of how my creative writing Process starts…Hope it happens – And then I needed to clear my head so I went fishing… Talk about extremes!”

Stallone voices King Shark in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad coming out on August 6, 2021.

SOURCE: SLY STALLONE

Posted on in Trailers

Things Go Off The Rails In Red-Band Trailer For ‘The Suicide Squad’ – Confirms Starro

Yesterday, director James Gunn teased that a trailer for his DC Comics film The Suicide Squad would get it’s first trailer released and today is the day!

It confirms that mind-controlling cosmic villain Starro is indeed in the film (something that was revealed over the summer) and that Sly Stallone is voicing King Shark.

You can check out that first trailer below.

Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

The film stars Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Bombshell”), Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”), John Cena (upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” “Bumblebee”), Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Jai Courtney (the “Divergent” franchise), Peter Capaldi (“World War Z,” BBC’s “Doctor Who” ), David Dastmalchian (upcoming “Dune,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Daniela Melchior (“Parque Mayer”), Michael Rooker (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Alice Braga (“Elysium”), Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island,” TV’s “Saturday Night Live”), Joaquín Cosio (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” TV’s “Narcos: Mexico”), Juan Diego Botto (“The Europeans”), Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man,” “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Euphoria”), Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” TV’s “The Rookie”), Steve Agee (“Brightburn,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), Sean Gunn (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, the “Avengers” films), Mayling Ng (“Wonder Woman”), Flula Borg (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Jennifer Holland (“Brightburn,” upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker”) and Tinashe Kajese (TV’s “Valor,” “The Inspectors”), with Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “Expendables” franchises), and Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Suicide Squad”).

Gunn (the “Guardian of the Galaxy” films) directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC. The film is produced by Charles Roven and Peter Safran, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo, Nikolas Korda and Richard Suckle executive producing.

Gunn’s creative team includes director of photography Henry Braham (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), production designer Beth Mickle (“Captain Marvel”), editors Fred Raskin (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”) and Christian Wagner (the “Fast & Furious” films) and Oscar-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”). The music is by John Murphy (“Kick-Ass”).

As mentioned above The Suicide Squad is set for release on August 6, 2021 on both HBO Max and in theaters.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS.

Posted on in Film News

Michael B. Jordan Officially Making Directorial Debut With ‘Creed III’ – MGM Sets Release For November 23rd, 2022

Yesterday, MGM announced via Variety that Michael B. Jordan will make his feature film directorial debut with Creed III. Jordan playing Adonis Creed in the previous two films will reprise the role with Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad expected to return as well.

Jordan stars in the boxing franchise as Adonis “Creed” Johnson, son of the fallen boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) — Rocky Balboa’s (Sylvester Stallone) former foe turned friend, who was killed in a match versus Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Rocky IV.

The script comes from Keenan Coogler (Space Jam: A New Legacy) and Zack Baylin (King Richard) that is based on an outline from producer Ryan Coogler.

MGM has given Creed III a release date of November 23rd, 2022 which would suggest a fall or winter production start.

CREED II – In 1985, Russian boxer Ivan Drago killed former U.S. champion Apollo Creed in a tragic match that stunned the world. Against the wishes of trainer Rocky Balboa, Apollo’s son Adonis Johnson accepts a challenge from Drago’s son — another dangerous fighter. Under guidance from Rocky, Adonis trains for the showdown of his life — a date with destiny that soon becomes his obsession. Now, Johnson and Balboa must confront their shared legacy as the past comes back to haunt each man.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News

Sly Stallone Officially Joins James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad’ In Mystery Role

Today, Sly Stallone has announced via Instagram that he’ll be part of the cast of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in an undisclosed role. Which could be voice work for a CGI character like King Shark, villain Starro is another option, or possibly he’s just doing some ADR for whatever the cameo is.

STALLONE: “I’m on my way to do a little work with a great director, James Gunn, on Suicide Squad 2 and I think it’s going to be a spectacular effort. I saw it and it’s unbelievable so I’m very proud to be included but I can’t tell you anything more about it because you’ll have to wait and see but it will be well worth the wait.”

Stallone last weekend wrapped on his superhero film Samaritan in Atlanta and his statement here would suggest that he’s only just joined the film after watching it which could suggest he’s recording some post/voice work for the film. It’s worth mentioning that James Gunn is currently in Canada quarantining and would suggest Sly will be interacting with the director via Zoom/Skype further supporting the idea it’s voice recording.

This news shouldn’t be confused with the Peacemaker series aka Scriptures that doesn’t begin to shoot until January of next year in Vancouver.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHlVfoypWmF/

The Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 6th, 2021 barring any studio hiccups.

SOURCE: SLY STALLONE