Expendables 3’s box office belly flop back in 2014 – possibly due to the film’s early online leakage or its undesired PG-13 rating – left the franchise in an odd place. Then came 2023’s Expendables 4, but despite its Rated R return, it performed worse at the box office than the previous film.
At this point, you’d think the franchise is dead, right?… but not so fast!
Lionsgate has made a deal with Millennium Films to acquire rights to develop and produce all derivative works, including future film and TV productions, of The Expendables franchise, as well as worldwide distribution rights to John Rambo, the upcoming sixth installment of the Rambo film series (via Deadline).
Considering that Jason Statham’s latest action films are performing well at the box office, there’s no doubt that Lionsgate has their eye on him to carry the series along (as evident in Expendables 4, Sylvester Stallone’s role is significantly smaller than in previous films, which will likely be a trend in the next film).
On top of it – even after the all-star appearances from world renowned names such as Jet Li (Hero), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Pound of Flesh), Iko Uwais (The Raid), Tony Jaa (Striking Rescue), Chuck Norris (Code of Silence), Scott Adkins (John Wick: Chapter 4) and Dan Chupong (Born to Fight) – fans of the action/martial arts genre are still eagerly waiting for Jackie Chan (The Shadow’s Edge), Donnie Yen (The Prosecutor), Keanu Reeves (John Wick) and Steven Seagal (Above the Law) to leave their mark on the franchise.
Heck, we might as well add Michael Jai White (Triple Threat), Daniel Bernhardt (Extraction 2), Mark Dacascos (John Wick 3), Cynthia Rothrock (Righting Wrongs), Olivier Gruner (Angel Town), Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja), Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon), Don “The Dragon” Wilson (Death Fighter) and Loren Avedon (Raging Thunder) to the “wish list” – after all, Gary Daniels (Bloodmoon) is an alumni of the franchise, so anything is possible? Producers take note: Names like these are low risk, high impact!
If The Expendables 5 moves forward, you can count on us to keep you updated. For now, we leave you with the Trailer to the previous films:
