Expend4bles director Scott Waugh spoke about the future of the Expendables franchise after the fourth installment, and it confirms audiences’ biggest fear. The 2023 movie followed The Expendables 3 by almost a decade, with Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) once again getting the mercenary team back together to bring down a greater threat. While the Expendables franchise is known for introducing action heroes from the ’80s and ’90s with each consecutive movie, including such names as Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, Expend4bles was a huge backstep.
The Expend4bles cast features franchise newcomers 50 Cent and Megan Fox, who are hardly worthy replacements for the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. That’s one of the many reasons why the fourth Expendables movie totally bombed at the box office and received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. Another problem was that franchise lead Sylvester Stallone is hardly in Expend4bles. Recently, director Scott Waugh spoke about The Expendables’ future, noting that Stallone is gone from the franchise for good, and this is the worst decision the studio could have made.
Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables Exit Means Repeating Expendables 4’s Mistakes
Scott Waugh commented that Expend4bles is all about Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross passing the torch to Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas and that the Expendables franchise is moving on without its original lead. Stallone not only starred in all four Expendables movies, but he also wrote the first three films and directed the one that started it all. Given his minimal involvement in Expend4bles, it wasn’t a coincidence that the fourquel was the worst-received movie in the series. Nevertheless, Waugh had this to say about the future:
I think the idea that Stallone’s passing this to Statham is exciting. Stallone still amazes me, his physical capability at his age. It’s still unbelievable to me. I’m 53 and busted up, and somehow he is in his late seventies and can still do it. But I think for Sly, he’s in a place in his life where time is super important to him. Being on the full run of an Expendables movie takes up a lot of his time and I fully respect that. Jason’s my age and really is still excited about continually working a lot. So it was a natural pass. Now, I’ll say, I definitely don’t think Sly is out of the brand. I think Sly will always be a part of it. He’s the starter of The Expendables and the original director. So I think it’s new blood with the old.
It’s as if the studio learned all the wrong lessons from the fourth Expendables movie’s failure. Expend4bles flopped at the box office, grossing just $8.3 million in its opening weekend, which is a miserable performance for a movie that had a budget of $100 million. While the Expendables series isn’t exactly a critical darling, the film also had a shocking score of just 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those pitiful statistics are partly because Sylvester Stallone was sidelined in the movie while the bigger focus was on Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas. Though they shared a modicum of screen time, the whole movie should have seen the two actors working together.
Instead of learning from its mistakes, Lionsgate is doubling down on the problems with Expend4bles. The franchise is going in completely the wrong direction, and Scott Waugh’s future plans are the very reason why the latest installment bombed at the box office. The reason why Stallone is hardly in Expend4bles is because of the creative differences between him and the studio. That led to Stallone leaving the project only to return in a neutered role two years later. Stallone’s exit negatively impacted the development, production, and reception of Expend4bles, and that’s happening all over again for The Expendables 5.
Expendables 5 Needs To Properly Replace Sylvester Stallone Now
If Lionsgate follows through with this direction, Lionsgate must find a suitable replacement for Sylvester Stallone for The Expendables 5. Padding out the cast supporting Jason Statham with low-level actors and rappers isn’t exciting, devalues the franchise, makes it feel like a direct-to-VOD series, and totally misunderstands what the Expendables series was about to begin with. In that respect, the Expend4bles follow-up needs another action hero to star alongside Statham if Stallone isn’t going to do it. The obvious answer would be The Rock, as Dwayne Johnson has wanted to join The Expendables, even if it’d be too reminiscent of his and Statham’s Fast & Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw.
