Summary

• Stallone's spinoff concept, "The Expendabelles," might be the franchise's last hope after the fourth movie flopped.
• "The Expendabelles" was scrapped in favor of another sequel, which lacked great action or interesting characters.
• The future of the franchise is uncertain after the fourth movie's failure, and a fifth entry would require a rethink or even a full reboot. "The Expendabelles" could potentially introduce a new cast while keeping the original continuity.

Sylvester Stallone once pitched a spinoff concept for Expendables movie outings, it looks like the franchise is officially dead.

The franchise's demise can be blamed on The Expendables 4, which received terrible reviews and grossed half the sequel's production budget. It didn't help that it arrived nearly a decade on from the third film, itself a critical and commercial disappointment. In the aftermath of the fourth film bombing, there's little (if any) enthusiasm for a fifth outing, and if another sequel does get produced, it probably won't arrive for at least another decade.

The Expendabelles Is The Best (& Only) Way Forward For The Franchise

This spinoff spent years in development hell before being canned

The future for the franchise looked bright in 2014, around the time The Expendables 3 was being released. There was already talk of a fourth film, while Stallone was joking about the saga's planned spinoff The Expendabelles and how he wanted Sigourney Weaver to play his character Barney's ex-wife, who inherited the female half of the titular team. The series had been noticeably light on female team , outside of Yu Nan's Maggie or Ronda Rousey's Luna. It sounds like this was partly by design so that a potential spinoff could bring together a cast of female action stars instead.

Names like Cameron Diaz, Milla Jovovich and Meryl Streep (!) were linked to the spinoff, but it was eventually scrapped as producers focused on making another Expendables instead. Sadly, the fourth film lacked solid action, quality one-liners or even some interesting new characters. The resulting sequel hit theaters with a resounding thud, and it's hard to picture even fans getting excited about another installment if it's just going to be more of what part four offered up.

Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture are the only actors to appear in every Expendables movie.

The Expendabelles might be the franchise's last hope. It can return to the original brief of assembling a group of A-list action stars, and a poster featuring names like Charlize Theron, Zoe Saldana or Michelle Yeoh pretty much sells itself. Despite the name, there's nothing to say the "Expendabelles" team couldn't have a male character or two - and maybe a cameo by Stallone or Jason Statham - but after four movies with the same core cast, the series could use a soft reboot.

Why The Expendabelles Was Scrapped

Initially, there was excitement for an all-female Expendables - until the plot synopsis was revealed. Robert Luketic was hired to direct the spinoff, and he reunited with Legally Blonde screenwriting duo Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith for a story that involved the world's most elite female operatives posing as "sex workers" to infiltrate a ruthless despot's island. This concept was met with swift and severe mockery online, to the point where another synopsis was released claiming the spinoff was just about a team of female mercenaries undertaking a dangerous rescue mission.

In 2022, Millennium Films' Jeffrey Greenstein revealed to THR that Expendabelles was abandoned because they couldn't figure out a reason the team had to be entirely female; instead, they introduced characters like Megan Fox's Gina to the fourth film. It's hard to fault Greenstein's logic, though neither Fox nor co-star Levy Tran got much of a showcase as either performers or action stars in the most recent installment.

Will Another Expendables Movie Happen?

The franchise's future is in doubt

While The Expendables 4's ending left room for another outing, there's a genuine question mark surrounding the franchise's future. The last two films have been badly received, with the third Expendables effort to turn the series into a PG-13 property being considered the point viewers turned against it. The fourth film should have been the one to get it back on track; instead, it delivered a generic, by-the-numbers action flick that devotees of the genre had seen a million times before.

There's no getting around the fact the fourth film was a total bomb, so a fifth Expendables would require a rethink or even a total reboot. The Expendabelles would be one way to keep the original continuity - and perhaps a returning character or two - while introducing a new cast. If it works, a potential follow-up could even feature a team-up between the female and male Expendables, which could be a fun event in itself. That said, it might be some time before the series returns in any form.

Source: THR