We learned last year that a Rambo television series was in the works with Avi Lerner, Entertainment One and New Image, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard much of anything about the long-rumored Rambo V. Is Sylvester Stallone done with the iconic character, or is there another installment on the way?
The status of a fifth film has been up in the air for some time now, but we heard in 2011 that Conan the Barbarian scribe Sean Hood was working on a screenplay in the vein of Unforgiven. Then, the next year, Hood tweeted that Rambo V would happen after The Expendables 2. Now, we’ve got an Expendables 3 hitting theaters and still no new Rambo. What gives?
It looked for a while as if Rambo V was destined to dwell in development hell for eternity. Today, however, is an exciting day for fans of the franchise, as Splendid Film recently announced that it had purchased the rights to Rambo V, writing in an official statement:
With ‘Rambo V’ Sylvester Stallone returns in his iconic role. This time he goes up against a Mexican cartel. Stallone, who has also written the screenplay, describes the new Rambo as his version of ‘No Country for Old Men.’ Like the last film, ‘Rambo V’ is produced by Avi Lerner (“The Expendables 1-3”)
Stallone last played the character in 2008’s Rambo, which he also wrote and directed. That film earned $113.2 million worldwide on a $50 million budget, proving that there’s still an appetite for new outings with the iconic action hero, so it’s exciting to see that Rambo V is finally gaining some traction. The Mexican cartel angle is certainly new though. A previous synopsis for Rambo V read as follows:
John Rambo could track anyone – or anything – on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Artic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south toward civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.
It’s a job that Rambo and his 22-year-old hunting partner, Beau Brady, can’t turn down, but they and a team of highly-skilled special forces kill team discover that the prey is a terror beyond their wildest imagination – a half-human abomination created by a renegade agency through a series of outlawed genetic experiments. It has man’s cunning, a predator’s savageness, and a prehistoric power that has transcended the ages. And even if Rambo and Beau survive its unrelenting hunger for human blood, they’ll still have to contront the grim reality that it may have grown immortal.
Based on Splendid Film’s statement, it looks like the above proposed Rambo V plot has been dropped in favor of one with a more traditional enemy. Regardless, I’ll be happy to see the film no matter which baddie Stallone goes up against. Hopefully we’ll hear more about Rambo V soon – check back often, as We Got This Covered will be sure to bring you the latest on this project.
