It’s been almost a decade since Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross rallied the troops for an action-packed adventure, but the screen icon will be hoping The Expendables 4 recaptures the magic that deserted the third installment.
While a pristine copy of the movie leaking online weeks ahead of release definitely hurt the last chapter’s box office takings, matters weren’t helped by the bone-headed decision to water The Expendables 3 down to a PG-13 rating in order to attract a younger demographic, even though the entire appeal of the brand is watching a band of aging heroes tear up a small army of disposable henchman in gratuitously violent fashion.
The next entry in the series won’t be making that mistake, and it’s shaping up to be a soft reboot of sorts. Stallone didn’t spend a great deal of time on set, leading to speculation that he’s set to be killed off, and the first promo poster from CinemaCon awarding him the “and” credit only lends further weight to the rumors, as you can see below.
If Stallone is indeed bowing out of the saga he helped create, then there are definitely worse replacements out there to head up The Expendables than Jason Statham, one of the 21st Century’s most popular ass-kickers. While Scott Waugh’s shoot-’em-up doesn’t have an official release date locked in as of yet, the fact the film looks to have a presence at CinemaCon could indicate that plenty of brand new details on the long-awaited return of the titular mercenaries are forthcoming.