It's been quite a while since we've heard of any movement on THE EXPENDABLES 4, the long gestating sequel belonging to the star-studded action franchise lead by Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham. The last installment of the series, as directed by Patrick Hughes, released in August of 2014 and saw the mercenary group coming to blows with a cutthroat arms dealer named Conrad Stonebanks. At the time of its theatrical release, THE EXPENDABLES 3 netted $214.6 million at the worldwide box office, making it the least profitable installment of the brawn and bullets series. Throughout its history, The Expendables series has served as an action playground for such notable badasses as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
On Sunday, the Tunisian daily publication, La Presse, reported that Stallone and Lundgren will soon find themselves traveling to Southern Tunusia, for the the purpose of filming THE EXPENDABLES 4. Now, before we press on, I think it would be behoove you to dine on this news with a sprinkling of salt, seeing as nothing official has yet to be announced.
According to La Presse's report, an official invitation was extended to the two stars by the Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, René Trabelsi, during his visit to Hollywood this past February.
"Dolph has been my friend for 25 years. I was his captain at the Swedish karate team. He came twice to Tunisia to shoot two films "The Barbarian" in Tozeur and another detective film in Hammamet and Mahdia. We even came together for the casting of the film Rocky 4 in 1985. It was he who suggested me to participate by wanting to do me a service at the time. And I remember, to my great surprise, that there were 5,000 actors who appeared in front of Sylvester Stallone for the casting. But by spotting Dolph, he immediately called, proposing to embody the role of his opponent in the film, that of the Russian boxer ", said Sadok Kouka, a karate world champion and close personal friend of Lundgren's. (translated via Google)
"It's official, then, these two sacred monsters of the American cinema will be, on March 25, in Kantaoui for two days, before moving to Tozeur to spot the places of shooting," said Sadok Kouka. A tribute will be paid to them [Stallone and Lundgren, presumably], with, among other things, meetings with René Trabelsi, Minister of Tourism, and Mohamed Zine El Abidine, Minister of Cultural Affairs.
Are you down for another chapter of THE EXPENDABLES series? Who do you think should be added to the cast? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.