The action film franchise The Expendables is officially getting its fourth entry. Lionsgate studio recently confirmed that the work on The Expendables 4 is underway while also announcing some intriguing cast additions.
According to the announcement, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, and Randy Couture will all be back to reprise their roles from the previous movies. They will be joined by rapper 50 Cent (real name Curtis Jackson), Transformers‘ star Megan Fox, who will play the female lead, and popular Thai martial artist Tony Jaa.
The new movie will begin filming at some point this fall, with ex-stuntman Scott Waugh (Need for Speed) serving as a director. The story is expected to be focused on Statham’s character Lee Christmas while Stallone’s Barney Ross, who was the focal point of the previous three movies, is set to take a back seat.
The first The Expendables, directed and co-written by Stallone, was released in 2010. It focused on a group of elite mercenaries and featured an ensemble cast consisting of action movie stars (both new and old), wrestling figures, and popular martial artists. The formula proved to be successful as the film became a surprise box office hit. This prompted two sequels, which offered more of the same, in 2012 and 2014.
The Expendables earned a total of $804.1 million at the box office compared to the $280 million budget. There were plans to make an all-female spin-off movie and expand the franchise to television in the past, but none of those projects came to fruition.
