Millennium FilmsIt looks like The Expendables franchise will definitely be more than a trilogy as Sylvester Stallone has confirmed he’s working on the next instalment.
The actor launched the series in 2010, hot off the success of Rocky Balboa and Rambo, and within just four years it grew into a much-loved franchise, with the release of The Expendables 2 in 2012 and the third film following in 2014.
The first two movies were fan favourites which earned a combined $590 million in the box office but The Expendables 3 was criticised for its poor storyline and PG13 rating, which restricted the violence and expletive language fans had come to associate with the series.
Millennium FilmsStallone wrote and starred in the first three films but, after getting off to a racing start, in March 2017 Deadline reported he had stepped away from the series after disagreeing with Millennium Films CEO Avi Lerner on number of elements regarding The Expendables 4.
According to ScreenRant the actor got back on board in 2018 and this week Stallone took to Instagram to confirm the fourth film is in the works.
He posted a photo of himself as his Expendables character Barney Ross and wrote:
All of those July 4th Fireworks got my mind going! I am starting to cook up The next adventure!
Details about the fourth film are essentially non-existent at the moment, though Stallone has said in the past creators would bring back the R-rating for The Expendables 4.
In an interview with CraveOnline, the 73-year-old said future Expendables movies should ‘absolutely unequivocally’ be R-rated.
He added:
I believe it was a horrible miscalculation on everyone’s part in trying to reach a wider audience, but in doing such, diminish the violence that the audience expects. I’m quite certain it won’t happen again.
Millennium FilmsThe Expendables franchise stars Stallone alongside the likes of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Coutore, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
There’s been no word about casting for the fourth film but one star who likely won’t appear is Crews, who cut ties with Expendables producer Lerner after he reportedly tried to force the actor to drop his accusations of sexual assault against a Hollywood producer.
After getting the first three films in quick succession fans are no doubt keen for the release of the fourth; hopefully Stallone won’t take too long to cook up his adventure!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.