The Expendables (franchise)
The Expendables is an American ensemble action thriller franchise spanning a film series, written by Sylvester Stallone and based on characters created by David Callaham, and additional media. The films star an ensemble cast, most notably Stallone and Jason Statham, and were executive produced by Basil Iwanyk and Guymon Casady. The film series itself was created to pay homage to the blockbuster action films of the 1980s and 1990s, and also pays tribute to the action stars of those decades, as well as more recent stars in action. The series consists of four films: The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014) and the upcoming The Expendables 4 (2023), and an ongoing comic book series: The Expendables Go to Hell (2021). The series has received mixed critical reception, in regard to its plots and dialogue between the characters; however, many critics praised the use of humor and action scenes. The films have been box office successes.
The Expendables (2010)
The Expendables, a group of elite mercenaries who carry out all sorts of missions, ranging from assassination to rescue, are deployed to a South American island, Vilena, to overthrow a Latin American dictator, General Garza, who is interfering with the plans of a group of “people” led by a man known only as Mr. Church. However, the team leader, Barney Ross, soon realizes that Garza is merely a puppet being controlled by a ruthless rogue CIA officer, James Monroe, who is Mr. Church’s real target.RELATED:
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The Expendables 2Â (2012)
A while after the first film, the Expendables accept another mission from Mr. Church to make up for losses caused by the mission in Vilena, but they end up in a conflict with a rival mercenary group, the Sangs, and their newest and youngest member is murdered by their leader, Jean Vilain. Ross swears vengeance on Vilain for his protegé’s death and starts to track him down, in the process learning that Villain threatens the world with five tons of weapons grade plutonium he intends to excavate from an abandoned Soviet mine and sell to the highest bidder.
The Expendables 3Â (2014)
The Expendables come face to face with the team’s co-founder Conrad Stonebanks. Ross was forced to kill Stonebanks after he became a ruthless arms trader, but Stonebanks survived and has now made it his mission to destroy The Expendables. Ross resorts to recruiting a new and younger generation of Expendables to help the team overcome his old adversary.
The Expendables 4Â (2023)
In March 2014, Pierce Brosnan stated that he had agreed with producer Avi Lerner to star in The Expendables 4 film. By April of the same year, Stallone revealed his first choice for the villain was Jack Nicholson, while mentioning his interest in convincing Clint Eastwood to join the production. By November of the same year, it was announced that the project is being developed with intent to receive an R-rating. In December 2016, Stallone announced that the fourth installment will be the final film in the series, while a scheduled tentative release date was set for 2018. By March 2017, Stallone had left the project and the franchise, due to creative differences over the script and direction for continuing the franchise. In January 2018, after vocal support from other cast members (including Schwarzenegger), Stallone announced his return with a post to his social media platforms; confirming new developments on the fourth film. Couture confirmed his involvement in March of the same year.RELATED:
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In July 2018, Gregory Poirier announced his role as screenwriter. Production was tentatively scheduled to begin by April 2019, though it wasn’t until July of that year that Stallone announced that he was continuing to work on the script for the project. The script was completed later that year, though negotiations with producers were ongoing. In June of the same year, Van Damme expressed interest in returning to the franchise, publicly pitching his idea of playing Claude Vilain, the brother to his villain character from The Expendables 2.
In January 2020, a spin-off film centered around Statham’s character titled The Expendables: A Christmas Story, was reported to be in development. In late-2019, Duncan Jones entered early negotiations to serve as director. Later, D.J. Caruso replaced Jones, from a script by Max D. Adams. Stallone will reprise his role, while Schwarzenegger and Tony Jaa are in negotiations to return to and join the franchise, respectively. The production budget will be $70 million.
The project will be a joint-venture between Millennium Media and Nu Image Productions.
By August 2020, Vértice Cine announced their involvement as a production company, alongside Lionsgate and Millennium Films. They also revealed that Hughes will return as director, and announced the release date for 2022. In November 2020, the president of Millennium Media, Jeffrey Greenstein, stated that the studio is continuing to work on The Expendables 4 after various delays within the industry worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, Couture stated that work on the script is ongoing and that principal photography is tentatively scheduled for fall of 2021–2022. In July 2021, Stallone confirmed he was still working on the project by sharing some pre-production design work on his social media that he had completed for the film. By August of the same year, the fourth film was officially announced by Millennium Media, Stallone confirming his involvement,
and that the “Christmas Story” portion of the title previously reported was not a spin-off, but in fact a working-title for The Expendables 4, Stallone stating that production would commences in October of that same year, with Scott Waugh serving as director, replacing Hughes, with a script written by Max D. Adams with revisions from Spenser Cohen. Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture will reprise their roles; while Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson III, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, and Andy GarcÃa will join the cast. Statham will additionally serve as producer alongside Kevin King Templeton, Les Weldon, Yariv Lerner, Jeffrey Greenstein and Jonathan Yunger. The project will be a join-venture production between Millennium Media, Lionsgate and Campbell Grobman Films. Principal photography was scheduled to begin in October of the same year. Filming officially commenced on October 6, 2021.