“The Expendables 4” has been going through some ups and downs as far as the rumors about the film are concerned, and it’s not quite clear what Sylvester Stallone and the rest of the crew are planning for the new installment right now. Fans have been a bit worried about where the franchise might be headed after “The Expendables 3” somewhat failed to live up to expectations and wasn’t the most impressive entry in the series that fans had seen. Now, there have been various talks and rumors about “The Expendables 4”, and it’s clear that Stallone wants to get the series back on the right track, but he has unfortunately been a bit unlucky lately.
The main problem is that various stars have turned down his offer to take part in the new film, and it looks like we won’t be seeing Manny Pacquiao and Jackie Chan in “The Expendables 4”. Salman Khan was also rumored to be joining the production at one point but that turned out to be false as well, and in the end the list of stars that could be added to the cast and improve the film’s ratings significantly is getting slimmer.
Stallone has reportedly not given up on his ideas for the film and he’s going to see it through to the end, no matter how things turn out, but we don’t know if he will be able to secure any good substitutes for the actors who have turned him down already. It’s possible that the film could be made with some of these actors in the end too, if Stallone is willing to postpone it a little, as it seems like some of the refusals were related to the schedules of the respective actors and not so much their unwillingness to participate in the film.
On the other hand, there have also been some rumors that the studio behind the franchise has been looking into the idea of creating a spin-off with a similar premise, but with all-female characters instead. The rumor claims that the new franchise could be called “The ExpendaBelles”, although there are currently only talks about one film and not an entire franchise.
Which makes sense too, as the producers would have no way of knowing if this film is even going to be successful or not, especially after the fate of “The Expendables 3” and the underwhelming reception that film saw. At this point, the people behind the franchise are probably right to be treading lightly, as there is a lot of potential for issues if they are not careful. “The Expendables 4” will prove to be a critical release for this series, because it will determine whether or not Sylvester Stallone can continue working on it, or if he should give up on the idea. The ratings of the new film are going to be quite the important metric for the studio.
With that in mind, we hope that Stallone will be able to secure the actors that he’s interested in, at least to some extent, and that things will proceed smoothly in the production of the new film. It would be a shame to see this franchise fading into obscurity, as it’s one of the film series with the most potential right now. It’s a very direct, straightforward take on the idea of a classic action film, and it’s been delivering on that front very well.