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The franchise may have earned in excess of $800 million across its first three installments, but it’s going to take a Herculean effort for EXPEND4BLES to avoid box office disaster based on its early performance.
The return of the aging action heroes did manage to get a headstart by opening a week early in China, but even though it topped the charts through its first weekend, an $11 million haul was still below expectations. On the domestic front, the fourth entry is tracking for both the lowest-earning debut and worst lifetime gross of the entire saga, hardly ideal when the budget is estimated to be around $100 million.
Ironically, producers Kevin King Templeton and Les Weldon made a point of noting to Movieweb that The Expendables has always been more rough and tumble than a certain superhero sandbox, which is fitting when you consider that it’s already going to take an Avengers-level effort to ensure Barney Ross and the gang don’t end up being plunged into the red by the time they leave multiplexes.
“The movies are… we’re not superheroes. We’re not Marvel; no one throws a cape on and flies through the air. It’s old-fashioned action, and that was the main thing, when we were developing, everyone agreed that we needed to stick to. That’s what started it. That’s the bread and butter of this franchise. That’s the lifeblood of it, so we knew what we were getting into. It wasn’t a question of, ‘We have to stay true to it.’ We always had that philosophy for this. It never changed, and I don’t think it will.”
Sylvester Stallone has confirmed this is his last Expendables, but Jason Statham is there to pick up the mantle if EXPENDABLE5 ends up getting the green light, although it remains entirely up for debate as to whether or not that’ll happen.