The fourth installment of the popular Expendables ensemble action thriller franchise titled ‘The Expendables 4’ aka ‘Expend4bles’ finally hit the big screens across the globe last week. But the movie has turned out to be a massive box-office disappointment, collecting just around $30 million globally against a budget of $100 million. So, it looks like the film won’t be able to surpass that figure with respect to its theatrical revenues.
But the question is: why ‘The Expendables 4’ failed to set the box office on fire, despite the franchise churning out money-spinners in the past? And more importantly, should the Expendables franchise still continue?
First of all, there was a nine-year gap between the last Expendables movie ‘The Expendables 3’, which was released back in 2014, and ‘Expend4bles’. A long release gap between movies under a film series could go both ways, but in this case, it has apparently gone south. And even ‘The Expendables 3’ had got a thumbs-down from critics, so that might have also adversely affected the sequel’s theatrical performance.
Secondly, ‘The Expendables 4’ has received poor feedback from many critics. The movie has got an abysmal critics’ score of 13% on reviews aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Although the audience score is significantly higher at 71%. However, on IMDb, the film has received a below average user rating of just 5.2/10. So, the film’s insipid reviews might have dissuaded prospective moviegoers from going to the theatres.
Moreover, in the Indian context, ‘The Expendables 4’ was released at a time when Atlee’s blockbuster action movie ‘Jawan’ starring Shah Rukh Khan was on a box-office rampage. With ‘Jawan’ still running in theatres in a big way, it might have further made a box-office dent on ‘The Expendables 4’.
So, the big question is: Should the Expendables franchise continue making films or should it stop right away? We think if the makers are planning to make more sequels, then first of all, they should hire an adept director who has a penchant for the action genre with a proven track record. For instance, look at how Antoine Fuqua has helmed ‘The Equalizer’ action film series so beautifully. We need someone like that to be given the directorial reins for the next potential Expendables movie.
Or Sylvester Stallone, who had directed the first Expendables film should come forward and direct the fifth Expendables movie. Furthermore, the makers should also think about adding some real star power to the film series (quality, not quantity). Otherwise, the next Expendables movie, if made, might turn out to be a surefire disaster. But if the makers ponder upon what went wrong and adopt a corrective approach, then we may still have another Expendables sequel and the franchise can still flourish.
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