If you're a fan of the Expendables franchise, then you've likely been waiting not so patiently for the last seven years for word of a fourth entry in the series. The Expendables 4 has been one of those projects that we thought we would get, and yet, it's been seven years and nothing has happened. But recently it seemed the wheels began to turn and now we know when the new movie is going to start filming. We are going to be getting a fourth Expendables movie, though it apparently won't exactly be Expendables 4.
Sylvester Stallone has confirmed on Instagram that principal photography is getting underway in October for what he is called an Expendables spinoff movie. And apparently it will be a holiday-themed action film as the working title is apparently Christmas Story.
It's unclear if this Christmas Story title is just a working title for the project, in the same way that Matrix 4 was being called Project Ice Cream and the original Star Wars was famously referred to as Blue Harvest. Alternatively, it could be that the current plan is to call the movie The Expendables Christmas Story or something similar. Personally I'm hoping for A Very Merry Expendables Christmas.
With the new movie being called a spinoff and not the next official entry in the franchise, it would seem that the new movie is different somehow from the movies that we've seen, but exactly how is far from clear. Sylvester Stallone is apparently in the movie as he'll be filming in October, but beyond that, things could perhaps be very different. While he's in the movie, it could be that the new movie isn't about him or his friends and focuses on other, perhaps new, characters, that would at least explain why the movie is being called a spinoff.
Initially Sylvester Stallone bailed on a fourth entry in the franchise just when such a movie should have been gearing up. That would have seemed to have been the end of the road. While the movies have certainly put together impressive ensembles casts, Stallone was always at the center of them and without him, there didn't seem to be much point. However, almost as soon as the movie seemed to be dead, it once again showed some life and so the exact fate of the franchise has been cloudy at best.
In May of 2018 it seemed that The Expendables 4 was happening after all, In early 2020 co-star Randy Couture confirmed the movie was moving forward. Of course, in March of 2020 the world exploded and nobody was thinking about making new movies for a while, so things once again went quiet.
A month ago Sylvester Stallone seemed to confirm the next movie was happening. Although, at that point he called the movie Expendables 4, and now he's calling it a spinoff. It's probably mostly a semantic argument. It's another Expendables and how you classify it is probably far less important than the fact that it's going to exist.
