Credit: The Expendables
We finally have a release date for Expendables 4.
It’s been a decade since the action franchise that saw the iconic action stars of yesterday and the next generation kick some major butt on screen together. The fourth installment of the Sylvester Stallone saga will be released on September 22, 2023. Originally, Expendables 4 started filming in 2021 and had a rumored release date of 2022, though nothing was ever official. The fourth installment of the series will see the return of Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Jason Statham, and of course, Stallone himself, with new additions being Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Andy Garcia, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and Iko Uwais.
Back in late October, Stallone said goodbye to the franchise after he finished his scenes. “The greatest thing is being able to provide films and entertainment and maybe there’s a little message in there because what I try to convey in my successful films is the human touch, the bond. Not so much the action, the action is self-evident, but just relating to the audience in a way they can identify with whatever the mission is with the characters at hand,” the Oscar winner says in a lengthy Instagram post.
Credit: The Expendables
Expendables 4 has been on a roller coaster ride following Expendables 3. The franchise has been very lucrative, collecting a healthy $274.5 million worldwide for the first film, $315 million for Expendables 2, and a lower than expected $214 million for Part III. However, the biggest issue is that Expendables 3 made most of its money overseas given the weak $39.3 domestic total. Luckily, money is money thus a fourth and final feature was greenlit. Not much is known about Expendables 4, but the brief plot details given will focus on Ross and his group of mercenaries battling against an arms dealer who commands a massive private army.
There was some trouble getting the fourth film off the ground in the beginning, with Stallone actually quitting the franchise due to his unhappiness over the creative direction that it was going, but soon after, Stallone came back on with a new set of writers and a director and carried forward with the film. The franchise heavily relies on the nostalgia factor and going back to a good old-fashioned rated-R feature will surely entice audiences who jumped off following Expendables 2 to perhaps watch the final installment. Former UFC Fighter Randy Couture – who’s returning as Toll Road – spoke about the new additions to the series and expressed excitement over them during his interview with uInterview:
Credit: The Expendables
“Obviously there’s only four old Expendables characters left, and that’s me and Dolph [Lundgren] and [Jason] Statham and [Sylvester] Stallone. So we added a whole new influx of new people. 50 Cent, who I’ve worked with before and have a lot of respect for. Megan Fox, which was nice to meet somebody new. Andy Garcia, who I’ve been a big fan of forever and has done some amazing work in the film industry. So it was really fun to get to see him work and be around him.”
It should be fun exploring the world of Expendables again and bringing on The Raid’s Iko Uwais only guarantees more hard-hitting and incredible action. This is being billed as the final installment for the franchise, but the franchise will continue forward thanks to the spin-off focusing on Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas. As of this writing, there’s no set date on when that film will be released; however, should that feature make bank at the box office then don’t be surprised if more spin-offs pop up. There were talks of doing an all-female version of The Expendables at one point, though it’s never been confirmed.
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