In 2010 Sylvester Stallone helped reinvigorate his career, and that of many aging action stars, with The Expendables. The franchise would bring together other big-screen stars such as Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and eventually include Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, and more. Stallone directed the first movie before passing the reins to Simon West then Patrick Hughes, who helped make 2014’s The Expendables 3 the series’ best.
Stallone has never kept these movies far from his mind, often referencing them on social media. Last year a rumor surfaced that Statham would star in an Expendables film centered on his Lee Christmas character, while Stallone has been talking up an Expendables 4 since 2018. Well now Stallone says that he’s part of an upcoming spinoff, going under the working title of Christmas Story, that will shoot in October.
The question is whether this spinoff, which appears to be the Lee Christmas film we heard about, and The Expendables 4 are the same thing?
Check out the post, which features some dude’s tattoo of Stallone’s character, Barney Ross. Yikes, that’s commitment!
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The Expendables was never a gigantic franchise, but it has made nearly $900M on a combined budget of around $300M. That’s not too shabby. I’m not sure a fourth movie would perform as well in today’s landscape, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t room for more. There are so many stars left to add, with Jackie Chan top of the list.
