Sylvester Stallone Announces Expendables Spinoff And Production Start

Sylvester Stallone, the original Judge Dredd, has officially announced a spin-off of The Expendables, a movie-action series that gathered most of the 1980s and 1990s action in a single cinematic setting. Fans of the traditional action movie genre are finally receiving another over-the-top cinematic experience with The Expendables series, after years of back-and-forth negotiations over prospective sequels to the three-part movie trilogy. Sylvester Stallone’s favorite promotional weapon — his Instagram account — broke the news about the spin-off. His most recent Instagram photo shows a hyper-realistic tattoo of his Expendables character, Barney Ross, on someone’s arm. Stallone revealed the news in the image caption, adding that he’ll be leaving in October to shoot a spin-off of The Expendables, with the working title of Christmas Story.

Despite sounding like a family holiday film, Christmas Story alludes to the franchise’s Lee Christmas character and one of the Expendables – played by famous action and martial arts star Jason Statham, who has one of his most crazy films accessible for streaming. Statham’s Lee Christmas has appeared in all three The Expendables films as a close friend and comrade of Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross, the commander of a group of ex-military mercenaries. A Lee Christmas spin-off of The Expendables has already been rumored but not officially confirmed, but Sylvester Stallone’s Instagram post indicates that one is in the works. However, other rumors indicate that the fourth movie in The Expendables franchise will begin production this autumn, raising concerns about the brand’s future direction. Is it feasible that the spin-off and The Expendables shoot at the same time? Is it possible that Christmas Story is a codename for The Expendables 4? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone has kept himself busy with a variety of projects since The Expendables 3, including theatrical releases such as 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood, and 2021’s The Suicide Squad, which has a fascinating gaming reference. Furthermore, he just embraced the superhero genre with the forthcoming Samaritan, which is slated to be released in 2022. Nonetheless, with this news, he appears to be returning to The Expendables very soon. Given that it’s been seven years since The Expendables 3 was released, we’d say it’s about time.

So far, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables trilogy has been viewed as a nostalgic homage to the action flicks of the 1980s and 1990s, which included a lengthy string of action movie stars such as Stallone, Statham, Jet Li, JC Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many, many others. The first film, directed by Sylvester Stallone, was a huge success, grossing $274 million at the global box office on an $82 million budget. The following films grossed a total of $530 million throughout their runs, so it’s not unexpected that the franchise’s owner, Lionsgate, is seeking to extend it by adding a fourth chapter and a possible spin-off.

Source: Giant Freakin Robot