According to Deadline, Simon West just signed on to direct The Expendables 2, the sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s 2010 action pic. Not only did the geriatric-on-‘roids actioner warrant a sequel, but the pick of West comes after a long and laborious search.
After Sly made it known that he would not be directing the sequel himself, a supposed list of top directors went into the vetting. West wins out, and it’s far from bad news for the film. West has some great action pics under his belt, like Con Air, The Mechanic, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and The General’s Daughter.
The sequel will see the re-uniting of almost the entire “good guys” entourage, which includes Sly, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews and Jet Li. No word yet on if there will be any cameo appearances in the sequel, but fans of the genre were treated to a small scene with both iconic action heroes Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original. No doubt a cute meta moment, The Expendables 2 will probably have a few surprises like that again.
At least filmmakers are aware of their target audience, as the first film (for all its flaws) grossed over $100 million domestic. And with the rate things are going for the sequel, you can expect a similar result.