We learned last August (here) that the next installment in The Expendables franchise would focus on Jason Statham’s Lee Christmas character and, at the time, we thought that it may be setting up a franchise based on Statham to run alongside the main series.
However, it seems this was wrong.
The movie was going under the working title A Christmas Story and, now that it’s almost done filming, a new video from Stallone, who plays Barney Ross in the movies, and Statham seems to be telling us that Stallone is leaving the franchise altogether, possibly handing the controls to Statham’s Lee Christmas.
We heard from CinemaCon a couple of weeks ago that the fourth installment is now called The EXPEND4BLES, will be returning to the franchise’s R-rated roots and Stallone has an ‘and Sylvester Stallone’ credit, meaning he is likely more of a cameo than the star of the show this time out, which now makes sense, given the video below in which he seemingly hands the reins to Statham.
Does this mean he dies in the movie? Could his death be the event that gets the team back together again? Hard to know but it looks like Statham will be getting another leading role in a franchise, moving forward, should more movies come out in the series down the line… having said that, Stallone has been promising for years to be stepping away from the Rocky/Creed/Rambo franchises and keeps popping up, so I wouldn’t bet this is the last we’ll be seeing of Barney in the action.
There’s no release date for THE EXPEND4BLES yet but it’s likely it’ll be before the end of the year.
Thoughts? Let’s hear them…
View this post on Instagram
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
Nerd Comments