Sylvester Stallone has managed to carve out a number of major franchises for himself over the years. One of the biggest on his resume is The Expendables, which started all the way back in 2010 and has since gone on to become a full trilogy, with a fourth installment reportedly on the way. The series has seen some solid success over the years, but it turns out that the original Expendables was actually almost a straight-to-video romp. Expendables actor Terry Crews explained:
The Expendables, the first movie, was supposed to be direct-to-video. You've got to understand where Stallone was at the time. He was trying to get this thing done, and they're like 'Dude, you're in your 60s, how you gonna do an action movie?' All the studios turned it down, so Sly starts calling people and he starts getting the buzz going. And this is also in the first days of getting viral energy on the internet. So what Sly started to do was tweet out 'How would you like to see me, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis in a movie together?' And the internet went crazy.
Sylvester Stallone has experienced something of a resurgence in recent years, and it's easy to remember that he wasn't firing on all cylinders back in 2010. The actor had trouble getting the film off of the ground, and the studio was only going to let him have it in the form of a direct-to-video project. However, he was able to get fans involved by tweeting out that the film would include actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, and per Terry Crews' recent remarks to GQ, that sparked the fire that got fans excited about the film.
The importance of The Expendables cannot be understated. Before the release of that film, Stallone had ridden some of his most iconic characters like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo off into the sunset for supposed final installments. However, The Expendables caused a significant resurgence that led to movies like Bullet to the Head, Creed, his appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the upcoming production of Rambo 5.
In the end, it probably makes the folks involved with The Expendables very happy to know that Sylvester Stallone was able to make it into a theatrically-released property. The series has developed a relatively rabid fanbase of its own, and a fourth installment in the series is reportedly in development. We don't know the exact plot details just yet, or the precise lineup of Expendables to come back and join the team (though we can confirm Terry Crews won't be back), but it will be a fascinating story to watch as it unfolds.
Make sure to keep it here for more information related to The Expendables franchise as new details are made available to us. As for Terry Crews, you can catch him in Sorry to Bother You, which opens wide this weekend on July 20. If you want more info on Sorry to Bother You, then you can also check out our full review of the film!
