The Expendables is a 2010 American action film directed by Sylvester Stallone, who co-wrote it with David Callaham and also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars an ensemble cast of mostly action film actors consisting of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis. The film was released in the United States on August 13, 2010. It is the first installment in The Expendables film series. This was Dolph Lundgren’s first theatrically released film since 1995’s cyberpunk film Johnny Mnemonic.
The film is about a team of elite mercenaries tasked with a mission to overthrow
a Latin American dictator whom they soon discover to be a mere puppet controlled by a corrupt ex-CIA agent. It pays tribute to the blockbuster action films of the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was distributed by Lionsgate.
The Expendables received mixed reviews with praise towards the action sequences and cast performances. It was commercially successful, opening at number one at the box office in the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India, and grossed a total of $274 million worldwide. The film spawned the sequels The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Expend4bles (2023).
As well, he described it as “a crowd-pleaser even if critics didn’t take to it.” Research by Lionsgate found that between 38% and 40% of the film’s viewers were female. The results were unexpected, for a film thought to have limited appeal to female filmgoers.
The Expendables remained at the top position in the U.S. box office during its second weekend, earning a weekend total of nearly $17 million.
The film went on to gross $103.1 million in the United States, and $171.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross to $274.5 million.
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