most profitable sports movie franchises to ever exist. Schwarzenegger is also an icon in his own right, playing many legendary characters of cinematic history in films like The Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, and Conan the Barbarian.

Despite these two larger-than-life movie stars rising to prominence in Hollywood at around the same time, there has been very little overlap in their cinematic careers. Their very first feature film collaboration didn't happen until 2010's The Expendables and continued in two of its three subsequent sequels, The Expendables 2 and The Expendables 3, considering The Expendables franchise has abandoned its future, the films still hold a special place in the action genre for bringing together Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and other legendary action stars.

Stallone & Schwarzenegger Have Only Been In 4 Movies Together (3 Of Which Are The Expendables)

The Expendables movies of the 2010s were able to include more iconic figures of the genre, although an earlier Stallone-Schwarzenegger collaboration could have set a stronger foundation for the franchise.

Somehow, Stallone and Schwarzenegger have only been in four total movies together, three of them being the first three Expendables movies. While it makes sense to keep the two leading men apart throughout their careers in order to maintain their individual status as leading star actors, it still would have been amazing to see Stallone and Schwarzenegger share the screen in their heyday, although there are certainly no complaints about their combined efforts with the original Expendables movie. The Expendables is an awesome and historic franchise but a Stallone-Schwarzenegger felt overdue.

With both Stallone and Schwarzenegger being highly competitive and working in the same genre at the same time, there was likely a great rivalry between the two movie stars that kept them from sharing a screen for most of their careers. If a film like The Expendables had been released back in the 1980s, it would have been part of both actors still-evolving legacies and would have been an enormous deal in Hollywood back then. The Expendables movies of the 2010s were able to include more iconic figures of the genre, although an earlier Stallone-Schwarzenegger collaboration could have set a stronger foundation for the franchise.

Sylvester-Stallone-Paradise-Alley-Rockky
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Stallone & Schwarzenegger Have Never Been In A Truly Great Movie Together

The Expendables 2 is their highest-rated feature film collaboration

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the poster for Escape Plan

Escape Plan was the only film that saw Stallone and Schwarzenegger as the sole leads and earned a worldwide total of $137 million despite mixed reviews.

The Expendables was the first film that brought Stallone and Schwarzenegger together but despite doing well at the box office, it received mixed reviews from critics and was not as much of a fan-favorite as it was expected to be. The Expendables 2 certainly enhanced the foundation set by The Expendables and is the best entry of the movie series according to critics and fans alike. However, The Expendables 3 and 4 received the poorest reviews of the franchise, earning Rotten Tomatoes critic scores of 32% and 13%, respectively. While The Expendables 2 is the best of the franchise, it's hard to call it a truly great film with an RT critic score of 67%.

The only other film that Stallone and Schwarzenegger starred in together was 2013's Escape Plan, which divided both critics and audiences with an RT score of 50%. Both actors were likely looking to capitalize on the box office success of the first two Expendables movies, which collectively generated a worldwide total of $188 million against a combined budget of $180 million. The poor box office performance of The Expendables 3 made the creation of Expend4bles lucky to begin with. Escape Plan was the only film that saw Stallone and Schwarzenegger as the sole leads and earned a worldwide total of $137 million despite mixed reviews.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jack Slater smiles and points a gun in Last Action Hero 1993
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I’m Glad Expendables Happened, But Stallone & Schwarzenegger Deserved Better Team-Ups

Escape Plan offered a small glimpse of what could have been

The Expendables franchise cast lined up in a promotional shot.

The Expendables could have been a higher-quality franchise overall but the fact that it exists in the first place with so many action stars makes it a part of film history by default. Escape Plan didn't necessarily bring out the best in Stallone or Schwarzenegger but its box office success proved the obvious that they would make a dynamic duo in standalone features, which there should have been more of throughout their careers. Fortunately, there's still time for a fifth Stallone and Schwarzenegger collaboration outside The Expendables franchise if both actors get on board.