Sylvester Stallone is a movie star with several iconic franchises under his belt, and that run hasn’t slowed as he’s gotten older. Through the late 2000s and 2010s, Stallone managed to both revitalize some of his older franchises (Rocky became the Creed franchise; the Rambo franchise got additional installments) and launch a new action movie franchise with The Expendables. The original trilogy of films ran from 2010 to 2014, and the franchise recently received a soft reboot in 2023. That relaunch attempt crashed and burned: Expend4bles had a budget of $100 million but only made $51 million at the worldwide box office, despite having an ensemble cast of action icons, including Stallone, Jason Statham, 50 Cent, Tony Jaa, Dolph Lundgren, and Megan Fox. The 2019 film Rambo: Last Blood similarly underperformed, earning less than $100 million at the box office.
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It was fair to assume that both The Expendables and Rambo franchises were shelved for good after such poor performance, but that’s not the case. A new report about a deal between Millennium Media (the top studio for mid-budget action franchises like Expendables and Gerard Butler’s Olympus Has Fallen series) and Lionsgate Pictures.
Lionsgate has reportedly secured worldwide distribution rights to both the Rambo and Expendables franchises. The studio will also get to be the leading producer on any Rambo TV series that may be developed. As for The Expendables, Lionsgate has reportedly secured rights to any future works derived from the Expendables franchise, including “potential film and television projects, video games, and immersive experiences.”
Lionsgate COO Brian Goldsmith issued a statement on the deal, stating, “This deal expands Lionsgate’s portfolio of genre-defining action franchises and reinforces our commitment to delivering world-class IP across multiple platforms.”
Jonathan Yunger, president of Millennium Media, added that “A partnership that gives these franchises the scale, creative support, and global reach they deserve.”
Rambo Prequel Continuing to Move Forward
This deal between Lionsgate and Millennium reportedly won’t interrupt development of the Rambo prequel film, John Rambo. Noah Centineo (Black Adam, He-Man) is still set to star as a young John Rambo; the film was previously pitched as an “origin story of a young John Rambo during the Vietnam War.” The project was supposed to revitalize the Rambo franchise, which is still what Lionsgate is likely banking on.
It remains to be seen what juice is left in The Expendables IP. The entire premise of throwback action featuring some of the biggest stars of the genre seemed to fizzle out after the biggest names (Stallone, Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis) all cycled through. It’s hard to see the characters of the franchise being able to carry it on with new actors in the roles. Same for a reboot about a new team of veteran stars.
Via: THR
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