Expendables is a movie franchise that brings some of the biggest names in the movie industry together in an action packed adventure for the ages. If you saw the first installment of the movies, you certainly never thought you would see a sequel to the movie. Fast forward a couple of years later and you are now hearing about the fourth installment in the Expendables series. The Expendables features actors like Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonia Banderas, Weslet Snipes, Dolph Lundren, Terry Crews, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford and of course, Arnold Schwartzenegger. Rumors are suggesting that pro boxer, Manny Pacquia could join the cast.
That is not the entire list, but those are the ones that you will notice within seconds of seeing them on film. The other thing that you will notice is the fact that most of the cast has been doing movies for the better part of 20 years pushing them into the 50’s and 60’s. It does not seem to effect the way the movies go, but with a fourth installment coming up soon, you have to wonder how many of these types of movies they can star in.
According to one source online, the newest movie will be rated R, compared to the PG-13 ratings that the last movie got following R ratings for the first two. Stallone was quoted as saying that he “regretted” making the third movie one with a PG-13 rating and that meant that the violent action scenes needed to be toned down to fit that rating. Doing so, possibly changed the way the movie flowed compared to the first two and that was something Stallone did not want to do again.
Expendables 3 has been the least successful of all the films in terms of box office take with just $200 million worldwide. Stallone might put that on the watered down action, but could it be because the audience just is not there for these guys again? Stallone believes that bringing a fourth movie to the franchise with an R rating will be what puts the franchise back on track. According to one online source, the writer of star of the franchise might have hinted that a core character or two would have to be killed in the fourth movie.
That would certainly get a lot of attention from the audience, but there is little to tell if that is what will bring the franchise back from the dead. Stallone also believes that if you have an R rated film, it is harder to believe when none of the heroes die and that could put a “dark cloud” on the audience as they leave the theater.