Even though “The Expendables” started off on a great foot and the franchise was received very warmly, by the time the third installment rolled around, attitudes towards the films seemed to have slowed down. Its box office performance was significantly less impressive than that of the previous film, which led some to believe that there won’t be a fourth entry in the series.
And yet, in the end, “The Expendables 4” was greenlit and the project is moving forward. Lately, its progress has been somewhat slow, according to reports – but at least the production is still going. Sylvester Stallone hasn’t given much official information about the film yet, other than expressing his interest in working with certain actors, as well as confirming that the film will try to get rid of the PG-13 rating in order to give its production team a little more creative freedom, and reach a broader audience at the same time.
Stallone has previously stated that he wants to release the film in 2016, but given how busy he’s been lately, this might be a difficult feat. According to some publications, 2017 is looking far more realistic at this point, and it’s more likely that we’ll see the film come out during that year.
Right now, Stallone is working on the next entry in “Rocky”, titled “Creed”, and after that he’s set to film “Rambo 5: Last Blood”, followed by a few other jobs on various films. It’s clear that he has a very busy schedule, which raises the question of how much time he’s able to invest in “The Expendables 4”.
Another question related to the film that many have been asking is who we can expect to see starring in the new production. There’s no shortage of speculation and rumors about different prominent names in the film industry, and some actors have either expressed their interest in working on the new production, or have already confirmed that they’ll be acting in it, including The Rock, Pierce Brosnan, Manny Pacquiao and more.
The poor performance of “The Expendables 3” could be attributed to several factors, but it’s clear that the franchise still enjoys an immense popularity among film fans, judging by the number of discussions online. It shouldn’t take Stallone too much effort to ensure that this production is a lot more successful than “The Expendables 3”, and with a little effort, he could easily make this a very profitable release. He still has plenty of time to perfect the film as well, so let’s see what 2017 brings, and what rumors and news we’ll get about the film in 2016.