Fans of seeing Sylvester Stallone teamed up with some of the greatest action heroes of all time might have disappointed to learn that he won't be back for another Expendables movies, but that doesn't mean he's done with the team ups. Instead of making The Expendables 4, Stallone has reportedly signed on to the new film Ex-Baghdad which will see him alongside one of the greatest action stars to never join the Expendables franchise, Jackie Chan.
Ex-Baghdad is being directed by Need for Speed's Scott Waugh and is based on a screenplay by Arash Amel who wrote the Nicole Kidman drama Grace of Monaco. The plot will see Jackie Chan as a private security contractor from China who is called into Mosel, Iraq after an oil refinery is attacked. Discovering that the attackers plan to steal the oil, Chan's character will team with a former U.S. Marine, played by Sylvester Stallone, to stop them.
According to Deadline, Ex-Baghdad is specifically the film that Sylvester Stallone was looking forward to making after Expendables 4 talks fell apart. While that franchise appears to be moving forward without him, we'll get another classic action movie team up here as Stallone and Jackie Chan have never made a movie together before.
Ex-Baghdad is currently set to have an $80 million budget which will make it one of the most expensive films yet produced out of China. SR Media, Jackie Chan's production company will be just one of the studios behind the film, the majority of the investment appears to be coming from China. The nation has become a major player in the global movie business thanks to their growing strength at the box office. In recent months the country has begun to finance larger and larger films in order to stake their claim to part of the production side of the business as well.
Classic western action heroes have continued to play well in China. Movies by Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger have continued to do well in China, regardless of their success here, so it's no shock that somebody like Sylvester Stallone was brought on board a major Chinese production like this. Schwarzenegger is also signed on to an upcoming big budget Chinese feature.
Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone is absolutely a pairing that we'd love to see and we're guessing we're not the only ones. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more news on Ex-Baghdad as the film's production moves forward.
