After much social media teasing from Sylvester Stallone, a new Expendables movie has been officially confirmed, but it hasn’t been announced as a direct fourth installment as of yet. When Sly was dropping hints online he referred to it as A Christmas Story, which was a spinoff that was once in development with xXx: Return of Xander Cage‘s D.J. Caruso set to direct.
As the veteran action icon confirmed, the latest go-round for The Expendables will shoot in October, with Scott Waugh behind the camera, best known for Aaron Paul’s middling Need for Speed. The script was penned by Spenser Cohen with contributions from Max Adams and John Joseph Connolly, and the ensemble features a mix of old favorites and new faces.
Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture will be reprising their roles from the trilogy, and they’ll be joined by 50 Cent, Megan Fox and Tony Jaa. The latter two are particularly exciting additions, with Fox embarking on something of a career resurgence over the last couple of years, while Jaa is one of the best martial artists in the movie industry, but he’s never really been given the chance to showcase his skills to their fullest during his time in Hollywood.
For a long time it looked as though we’d seen the last of The Expendables after the third outing for the aging action stars disappointed at the box office, which was admittedly partly due to a pristine copy leaking online weeks ahead of release, and Stallone eventually came clean about the PG-13 rating being a huge mistake. Hopefully we’re back in R-rated territory for the fourth adventure, otherwise what’s the point?
