‘The Expendables’ Director Reveals the Only Major Issue Why Jackie Chan Might Not Join Sylvester Stallone’s Action Franchise
The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone’s action-packed film franchise, is renowned for uniting the biggest action heroes in Hollywood. The action-packed films of the 1980s and 1990s, starring the action heroes of that time, are celebrated in this franchise, which was started by David Callaham. Stallone has always wished to have Jackie Chan join his action-packed films, but unfortunately, they never got the chance to work together. Recently, The Expendables director opened up about the one big reason that might keep Jackie Chan from becoming a part of this legendary action franchise.
There’s a chance Jackie Chan won’t ever appear in The Expendables
Jackie Chan is no stranger to action films. His major break came in 1978, although he’s been captivating audiences with his kung-fu moves since the 1960s and 1970s. Chan became a major celebrity in Asia and Europe by the middle of the 1990s, and he established himself in Hollywood with successes like Rumble in the Bronx in 1995 and Rush Hour in 1998. And Sylvester Stallone is reportedly a major fan of martial arts legend Jackie Chan, which raises the chance of Chan appearing in a future Expenda5les film.
Scott Waugh, who directed The Expendables 4, was hopeful and claimed that anything is possible, particularly given how highly Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Chan regard one another. Making it happen would, however, require everything to come together flawlessly because scheduling issues can be rather difficult.
Waugh told JoBlo; “Look I think anything’s possible, and I know Jackie Chan is a huge Sylvester Stallone fan, Sly has such reverence for Jackie as well.” He further added, “I think if the stars align in their schedules, which is always so freaking complicated.”
And following the lackluster performance, it’s still unclear if the franchise will continue with a fifth installment.
Sylvester Stallone’s Expend4bles’ underwhelming box office performance
In terms of reviews, the most recent Expendables film, Expend4bles, didn’t exactly set the world on fire. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a depressing 13% rating out of 100 reviews. A fifth installment in the series seems quite unlikely given that Expend4bles earned less than $10 million on its opening weekend at the box office. In contrast, the 2010 film The Expendables made over $30 million in its domestic opening alone before going on to gross over $100 million in the United States and over $260 million globally.
The second film, The Expendables 2, which was released in 2012, was able to earn $85 million domestically and more than $300 million internationally. The Expendables 3, which was released in 2014, managed to earn $200 million worldwide despite a lower domestic take of $39 million. Sadly, just before its official release, the third film likewise had to contend with the unfortunate leak onto piracy networks. Because of this, even though Expend4bles may have faltered, the Expendables movie franchise as a whole has had its share of success and failure at the box office. But it’s still unclear whether the fifth installment will be made or not.
