Sylvester Stallone is no stranger to churning out sequels having played Rocky Balboa eight times as well as headlining six Rambo movies and three Expendables, and that’s without even mentioning his appearances in follow-ups to franchises he wasn’t originally involved in like Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
One of his lesser-known endeavors though is the Escape Plan series, with a lot of people probably unaware that the 2013 original would go on to spawn two direct-to-video sequels. Despite the action icon admitting that 2018’s second installment Hades was the worst movie he’s ever been a part of, which is a damning indictment from someone with 34 Razzie nominations under their belt, he still went ahead and made third entry The Extractors the very next year.
Though the entire selling point of the movie was the first major collaboration between Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger outside of their brief interactions as part of the sprawling ensemble of The Expendables, Escape Plan disappointed at the domestic box office, where it made a paltry $25 million. However, international audiences saved the mid-budget actioner from financial ruin and it ended up doing solid business after earning $137 million on a $54 million budget.
Further proving Escape Plan‘s popularity with overseas viewers, the movie has been dominating the Netflix charts all week and is currently the fourth most-watched title on the streaming service globally, even though it doesn’t feature in the Top 10 for the United States. While it doesn’t exactly rank as either star’s finest effort, it does provide decent enough entertainment for a lazy afternoon or quiet evening, with Schwarzenegger in particular easily walking away as the undisputed highlight thanks to a charismatic, self-aware and hugely entertaining performance.
