In 2010, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle The Expendables was released. Teaming the veteran actor with several other big-name action stars, the film was hardly a critical darling (41% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it performed well enough at the box office ($274.4 million worldwide) to spawn a franchise. Since the original film came out, there have been three sequels, the most recent being 2023’s Expend4bles. There was even an all-female spinoff that entered development at one point, but that obviously has not come to fruition. Fans would be forgiven if they thought that project was dead, but it appears that The Expendabelles is back on.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a “female-driven expansion of The Expendables” is in the works at Eclectic Pictures and Hollywood Ventures Group. No director, writer, or cast has been attached yet, but the project is described as “an origin story set in the late 1990s during the height of Y2K-era tension and geopolitical uncertainty.” The Expendabelles (which is not the official title) is envisioned as a movie that can work on its own merits as a standalone while also fleshing out the Expendables universe.
Will The Expendabelles Actually Happen?
Image Courtesy of Lionsgate
When word of a female Expendables spinoff first broke in the early-to-mid-2010s, the development made sense. At the time, The Expendables was riding high following the success of the first two mainline films; 2012’s The Expendables 2 was an even bigger box office hit, grossing $314.9 million worldwide. However, more recently, the series appears to have lost some of its luster. Expend4bles was the worst-received installment critically and commercially, posting a meager 14% Rotten Tomatoes score and just $51.1 million at the box office (against a $100 million production budget).
That kind of performance would effectively kill most franchises, but The Expendables seemingly got a new lease on life last year, when Lionsgate acquired the IP’s worldwide distribution rights. The studio would not spend money on something it intended to leave on a shelf collecting dust, so there’s reason to believe the higher-ups truly are dedicated to making The Expendabelles a reality. The THR report notes that the production companies are in the process of “actively assembling” a creative team, meaning there could be more movement on The Expendabelles in the not-too-distant future.
No release date for The Expendabelles has been set yet, but given this latest update, it sounds like the project could be fast-tracked depending on how quickly all the pieces fall into place. The most important aspect of this spinoff is finding the right cast. The Expendabelles plans to “introduce a new generation of elite female operatives,” indicating that the plan would be for this new ensemble to carry the franchise moving forward. The only way that will happen is if audiences buy into the team the filmmakers assemble. The main appeal of The Expendables is seeing action icons come together like The Avengers. If The Expendabelles uses its predecessor as motivation, the cast should be a mix of classic veterans and younger actors.
Based on the performance of Expend4bles, a convincing argument can be made that general audiences are no longer interested in this IP. Typically, spinoffs enter development when a franchise’s popularity is at its peak and there’s demand for more content. The diminishing returns of the Expendables series presents a challenge for The Expendabelles, but with the right cast and director calling the shots, maybe this’ll be exactly what the franchise needs to regain its footing. Injecting some fresh blood into the proceedings could rejuvenate The Expendables with a renewed sense of energy.
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