The Expendables (franchise)

The Expendables, a group of elite mercenaries who carry out all sorts of missions, ranging from assassination to rescue, are deployed to a South American island, Vilena, to overthrow a Latin American dictator, General Garza, who is interfering with the plans of a group of "people" led by a man known only as Mr. Church. However, the team leader, Barney Ross, soon realizes that Garza is merely a puppet being controlled by a ruthless rogue CIA officer, James Monroe, who is Mr. Church's real target.

A while after the first film, the Expendables accept another mission from Mr. Church to make up for losses caused by the mission in Vilena, but they end up in a conflict with a rival mercenary group, the Sangs, and their newest and youngest member is murdered by their leader, Jean Vilain. Ross swears vengeance on Vilain for his protegé's death and starts to track him down, in the process learning that Villain threatens the world with five tons of weapons grade plutonium he intends to excavate from an abandoned Soviet mine and sell to the highest bidder.

The Expendables come face to face with the team's co-founder Conrad Stonebanks. Ross was forced to kill Stonebanks after he became a ruthless arms trader, but Stonebanks survived and has now made it his mission to destroy The Expendables. Ross resorts to recruiting a new and younger generation of Expendables to help the team overcome his old adversary.

In January 2020, a spin-off film titled The Expendables: A Christmas Story, was announced to be in active development. D.J. Caruso will serve as director, with a script written by Max Adams. Principal photography will begin later that year in Southeast Asia, with a release date scheduled for December 2021. Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will reprise their roles, while Tony Jaa is cast in an undisclosed role. The plot will primarily revolve around Statham's character, Lee Christmas. The production budget is reported to be $70 million.[1][2]

In March 2014, Pierce Brosnan stated that he had agreed with producer Avi Lerner to star in The Expendables 4 film.[3] By April of the same year, Stallone revealed his first choice for the villain was Jack Nicholson, while mentioning his interest in convincing Clint Eastwood to join the production.[4][5] By November of the same year, it was announced that the project is being developed with intent to receive an R-rating.[6] In December 2016, Stallone announced that the fourth installment will be the final film in the series, while a scheduled tentative release date was set for 2018.[7] By March 2017, Stallone had left the project and the franchise, due to creative differences over the script and direction for continuing the franchise.[8]

In January 2018, after vocal support from other cast members (including Schwarzenegger), Stallone announced his return to the series with a post to his social media platforms; confirming new developments on the fourth movie.[9] Couture confirmed his involvement in March of the same year.[10] In July 2018, Gregory Poirier announced his role as screenwriter.[11] Production was tentatively scheduled to begin by April 2019, though it wasn't until July of that year that Stallone announced that he was continuing to work on the script for the project.[12] The script was completed later that year, though negotiations with producers were ongoing.[13] In June of the same year, Van Damme expressed interest in returning to the franchise, publicly pitching his idea of playing the brother to his villain from The Expendables 2.[14]

By August 2020, Vértice Cine announced their involvement as a production studio on the movie, alongside Lionsgate and Millennium Films. They also revealed that Patrick Hughes will return to the series as director, and announced the release date as being set for 2022.[15][16] In November 2020, the president of Millennium Media, Jeffrey Greenstein, stated that the studio is continuing to work on The Expendables 4 after various delays within the industry worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17]

In October 2012, plans for an all-female centered film were announced titled, The ExpendaBelles. Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith were hired to co-write the script, while Avi Lerner, Mark Gill, Julie Kroll, Boaz Davidson, and Kevin King will serve as producers.[18] The film will be a joint production between Millennium Films, Eclectic Pictures, and Summertime Entertainment.[19] Stallone is not involved with the project.[20] By the following year, Lerner had entered early negotiations with actresses Meryl Streep, Cameron Diaz and Milla Jovovich to star in the film.[21] The producer stated that they were looking for a female director for the project, while also stating that principal photography was scheduled to take place in Bulgaria, where previous installments had been filmed.[22]

By February 2014, it was announced that Robert Luketic had been hired as director. Stallone stated that he is not involved with the spin-off, but that he would like to see Sigourney Weaver appear in the movie.[23][24] By August, Lerner stated that the script was nearing its final draft.[25] Later that month, the studio released an updated official synopsis for the film as: "The Expendables universe has a new team. An elite group of highly trained female mercenaries are brought together for a covert hostage rescue mission. Once they are behind enemy lines, the women discover that they will also need to topple an evil dictator bent on world domination. It becomes clear there is no such thing as the right man for the job. The ExpendaBelles is the ultimate story of female empowerment and kick-ass teamwork."[26] All studios involved had intended to begin production early-2015.[27]

The Expendables received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 42% approval rating based on reviews from 203 critics, with an average rating of 5.28/10. The website's consensus states: "It makes good on the old-school action it promises, but given all the talent on display, The Expendables should hit harder."[36] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the film has received a mean score of 45, based on 35 reviews.[37] CinemaScore polls reflect solid audience approval with a B+ average grade.[39]

The Expendables 2 received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 68% approval rating from 130 critics, with an average rating of 5.84/10. The website's consensus states: "Taut, violent, and suitably self-deprecating, The Expendables 2 gives classic action fans everything they can reasonably expect from a star-studded shoot-'em-up — for better and for worse."[40] Metacritic gave it a score of 51 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[41] CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave the film an average grade of A– on an A+ to F scale, compared to The Expendables' B+.[42][45]

The Expendables 3 received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 32% rating based on 162 reviews with an average rating of 4.85/10. The site's consensus reads "Like its predecessors, The Expendables 3 offers a modicum of all-star thrills for old-school action thriller aficionados — but given all the talent assembled, it should have been a lot more fun".[43] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics.[44]

The Expendables 2 Videogame is a downloadable four-player cooperative shoot 'em up video game. It was published by Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation Network (PSN) and Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and released on July 31, 2012 for PSN and August 20 for PC (via Steam) and XBLA. The game's plot is a prequel to The Expendables 2, with Barney Ross, Gunnar Jensen, Yin Yang and Hale Caesar appearing as playable characters. Lundgren and Crews voiced their respective characters. According to review aggregates Metacritic and GameRankings, the game received generally negative reviews.

The Expendables 2: Deploy & Destroy is a single-player tower defense, real-time strategy online game. Published by Roadshow Films and Soap Creative, the game was released on July 13, 2012. Its plot was derived from village scenes in the film, where players can choose their squad from the cast, set up defenses and battle the enemy.

A standalone expansion of the game Broforce was based on The Expendables 3. Entitled The Expendabros, it was released in August 2014. Later, The Expendabros expansion became free to play in order to promote The Expendables 3 and remained so until December 31.[46][47]

In 2010 Chuck Dixon wrote a four-issue miniseries based on the movie The Expendables. Published by Dynamite Entertainment, the comic, titled The Expendables, featured artwork from Esteve Polls and was a prequel to the movie.[48][49]

In 2011 Leo Ortolani created La Quadrilogia dei Sacrificabili, a parody of the movie The Expendables,[50][51] that won the award "Fede a strisce 2011" at RiminiComix.[52][53]

On February 1, 2020, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Dixon, and YouTuber Richard C. Meyer started an Indiegogo campaign for a graphic novel titled The Expendables Go to Hell. It will be published through Meyer's Splatto Comics label and feature Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Gunnar Jensen, Yin Yang, and Toll Road fighting a supernatural war after they're killed in combat.[54]

In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce Bollywood remakes of First Blood, The Expendables, 16 Blocks, 88 Minutes, and Brooklyn's Finest, with the productions for First Blood and The Expendables expected to start at the end of that year.[55]