The Expendables (franchise)
The Expendables is an American ensemble action thriller franchise spanning a film series, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone and originally created by David Callaham, and additional media. The film series itself was created to pay homage to the blockbuster action films of the 1980s and '90s and also pays tribute to the action stars of those decades, as well as more recent stars in action. The series consists of three films: The Expendables, The Expendables 2 and The Expendables 3, with a fourth film scheduled to be released in the future. 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.
Films
''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.''The Expendables 2'' (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 3'' (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.Future
''The Expendables: A Christmas Story'' (2021)
In January 2020 a spin-off film titled The Expendables: A Christmas Story was confirmed to be in active development. D.J. Caruso will serve as director, with a script written by Max Adams. Principal photography will begin later that year, with a release date scheduled for December 2021. Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will reprise their roles, while Tony Jaa is cast in an undisclosed role. The plot will primarily revolve around Statham's character, Lee Christmas.''The Expendables 4'' (TBA)
In March 2014, Pierce Brosnan stated that he had agreed with Avi Lerner to star in The Expendables 4 film, but added that he was not sure if he would join that film saying, "I have no idea which one it would be, I just said yes." Stallone revealed his first choice for the villain was Jack Nicholson. The Expendables 4 will retain the R-rating. In August of 2014, Stallone stated that there is the potential for least two more Expendables movies, before the franchise expands into spin-offs. In December 2016, Stallone announced in an interview that the fourth installment will be the last in the series, while it originally had scheduled a release for a 2018 date. In March 2017, it was announced Stallone would be leaving the franchise due to disagreements over the script and direction of the franchise. In April 2017, supporting star Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will not be returning for the fourth film without Stallone.Ji Chang-wook and Tony Jaa said he will not be returning for the fourth film without Stallone. After Avi Lerner threatened Terry Crews over his sexual assault lawsuit against Adam Venit, Terry Crews chose not to star in the film.
By January 2018, Stallone announced the development of another Expendables movie on his social media page, confirming his return to the film series. Randy Couture confirmed his involvement, later in 2018. The film was originally scheduled to begin production by April 2019, though in July of the same year Stallone announced he was beginning to work on the project. In March of 2020, Randy Couture announced that the script was finished in 2019, but that negotiations are ongoing with producers.
In the end of May 2020, Jean-Claude Van Damme suggested Stallone and Avi Lerner an idea that in The Expendables 4 he could play the antagonist again and portray a brother of Jean Vilain, Claude Vilain. According to his idea, Claude Vilain will train his own team, to fight the old squad of The Expendables, lead by Barney Ross.
''The ExpendaBelles'' (TBA)
In October 2012, plans for an all-female centered film were announced titled, The ExpendaBelles. Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith were hired to co-write the script, while Avi Lerner, Mark Gill, Julie Kroll, Boaz Davidson, and Kevin King will serve as producers. The film will be a joint production between Millennium Films, Eclectic Pictures, and Summertime Entertainment.By the following year, Lerner had entered early negotiations with actresses Meryl Streep, Cameron Diaz and Milla Jovovich to star in the film. The producer stated that they were looking for a female director for the project, while also stating that principal photography was scheduled to take place in Bulgaria, where previous installments had been filmed.
By February 2014, it was announced that Robert Luketic had been hired as director. Stallone stated that he is not involved with the spin-off, but that he would like to see Sigourney Weaver appear in the movie. By August, Lerner stated that the script was nearing its final draft. Later that month, the studio released an updated official synopsis for the film as:
The Expendables universe has a new team. An elite group of highly trained female mercenaries are brought together for a covert hostage rescue mission. Once they are behind enemy lines, the women discover that they will also need to topple an evil dictator bent on world domination. It becomes clear there is no such thing as the right man for the job. The ExpendaBelles is the ultimate story of female empowerment and kick-ass teamwork.
All studios involved had intended to begin production early-2015.
Cast and crew
Principal cast
Additional crew
Television
In May 2012, it was announced that a television spin-off of the film series had entered development at Lionsgate. In March 2015, it was confirmed that the franchise will expand, with a television event series in active development. The project will be a joint-production between CBS Television Studios, Lionsgate Television, Shane Brennan Prods., and Rogue Marble Productions. Shane Brennan has signed on as creator, producer and showrunner; as well as serving as co-writer with Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward. Stallone will serve as executive producer alongside Avi Lerner, Kevin King, Grant Anderson, and Brennan. The plot of the series was announced to feature a new team of Expendables, composed of 'iconic television stars', who are on a mission to stop the dangerous activities of terrorist organizations.Originally scheduled to air on Fox network, beginning in June of 2016 the series was being shopped around to other networks and streaming services.
Reception
Box office performance
Critical and public response
The Expendables received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 42% approval rating based on reviews from 203 critics, with an average rating of 5.28/10. "The website's consensus states: It makes good on the old-school action it promises, but given all the talent on display, The Expendables should hit harder." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the film has received a mean score of 45, based on 35 reviews. CinemaScore polls reflect solid audience approval with a B+ average grade.The Expendables 2 received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 68% approval rating from 130 critics, with an average rating of 5.84/10. The website's consensus states: "Taut, violent, and suitably self-deprecating, The Expendables 2 gives classic action fans everything they can reasonably expect from a star-studded shoot-'em-up — for better and for worse." Metacritic gave it a score of 51 from 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave the film an average grade of A– on an A+ to F scale, compared to The Expendables B+.
The Expendables 3 received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 32% rating based on 162 reviews with an average rating of 4.85/10. The site's consensus reads "Like its predecessors, The Expendables 3 offers a modicum of all-star thrills for old-school action thriller aficionados — but given all the talent assembled, it should have been a lot more fun". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics.
Other media
Video games
The Expendables 2 Videogame is a downloadable four-player cooperative shoot 'em up video game. It was published by Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade and released on July 31, 2012 for PSN and August 20 for PC and XBLA. The game's plot is a prequel to The Expendables 2, with Barney Ross, Gunnar Jensen, Yin Yang and Hale Caesar appearing as playable characters. Lundgren and Crews voiced their respective characters. According to review aggregates Metacritic and GameRankings, the game received generally negative reviews.The Expendables 2: Deploy & Destroy is a single-player tower defense, real-time strategy online game. Published by Roadshow Films and Soap Creative, the game was released on July 13, 2012. Its plot was derived from village scenes in the film, where players can choose their squad from the cast, set up defenses and battle the enemy.
A standalone expansion of the game Broforce was based on The Expendables 3. Entitled The Expendabros, it was released in August 2014. Later, The Expendabros expansion became free to play in order to promote The Expendables 3 and remained so until December 31.
Comic books
In 2010 Chuck Dixon wrote a four-issue miniseries based on the movie The Expendables. Published by Dynamite Entertainment, the comic, titled The Expendables, featured artwork from Esteve Polls and was a prequel to the movie.In 2011 Leo Ortolani created La Quadrilogia dei Sacrificabili, a parody of the movie The Expendables, that won the award "Fede a strisce 2011" at RiminiComix.
On February 1st, 2020, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Dixon, and YouTuber Richard C. Meyer started an Indiegogo campaign for a graphic novel titled The Expendables Go To Hell. It will be published through Meyer's Splatto Comics label and feature Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Gunnar Jensen, Yin Yang, and Toll Road fighting a supernatural war after they're killed in combat.