Everything seems pretty quiet regarding the actual production of “The Expendables 4” but previous reports were saying that filming would begin this fall in China.
Fans and critics were left assuming that the movie is filming as scheduled in Mainland China since a Chinese entity is said to be bankrolling the production of the fourth installment of the action-ensemble franchise.
However, with the recent announcement of a German film distributor Splendid Film, that it has picked up the distribution rights to the movie across all German-speaking Europe for distribution in 2018, it seems clear that the movie would not be hitting theaters next year but the following year, notes Movieweb.
Splendid Film happened to have distributed the first three “The Expendables” movies, which have earned a combined $30 million at the German box office.
It should be noted however that even though there is already a German distributor for “The Expendables 4,” Lionsgate will still distribute the fourth installment domestically like it did with the first three movies.
Final movie of the franchise
There are also reports saying that “The Expendables 4” will put an end to the action ensemble film franchise and both the producers and the cast of characters are hoping that the final movie would arrest the downward trend of its box-office results.
While “The Expendables 3” was the most star-studded among the first three movies, it had the least box-office take as it has fallen victim to piracy.
Days before its official release date to global cinemas, a digital version of the full movie was leaked on the internet, resulting in a major dip in its projected viewership in global theaters with the exception of China.
The producers and the cast of characters have already learned the lesson of the debacle of “The Expendables 3” which is why everything is being kept under wraps with regards to the casting and even the filming of “The Expendables 4.”
If and when “The Expendables 4” finally comes out in theaters in 2018, it would have taken the film four years to make from the last film, which is a far cry from the two-year gap in between films during the first three movies of the franchise.
“The Expendables 3” came out in cinemas in 2014 while “The Expendables 2” was released in 2012. The first movie came out to theaters in 2010.
The first movie earned $274.4 million in the worldwide box-office while the first sequel netted $314.9 million. But “The Expendables 3” only had a worldwide total of $214.6 million. Producers are confident that the fourth movie would turn things around for the franchise and closed it on a high note.
Despite the less-than-expected box-office results of the third movie of the franchise, it was still considered by the producers high enough to merit and justify one more sequel, notes Slash Film.
No news was not surprising
Prior to the reported confirmation from the German film distributor, there is hardly a news on “The Expendables 4” on the internet which did not actually surprise many film critics.
It can be recalled that just before its predecessor movie, “The Expendables 3” came out in cinemas in 2014, a pirated copy of the film was already released online, that has dampened the box-office potential of the action blockbuster.
While it still earned money at the box office, it was way below than the performance of the first two movies, which was really a downer for the producers and also the cast of characters led by Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
There were previous reports saying that filming for the movie will start in the fall of 2016 in China and it seems that one of the main reasons why there is hardly a news on the production of “The Expendables 4” is because it is being done in Mainland China.