We've been hearing rumors here and there that a fourth entry in THE EXPENDABLES franchise is in the making and today we finally have a new update. Today we have word that Stallone and Lundgren will be traveling to Southern Tunisia to begin shooting THE EXPENDABLES 4 soon. An official invitation was extended to them by the Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts, René Trabelsi, during his visit to Hollywood this past February.
Sadok Kouka, a karate world champion and close personal friend of Lundgren's said:
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.
He continues to say that a tribute will be paid to Stallone and Lundgren who are the "sacred monsters of American cinema" mentioned below.
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.
Word on EXPENDABLES 4 hit last May when Chinese exhibition giant Dadi pre-bought mainland China distribution rights to the film from Millenium Media, which effectively means they have co-financed the entire film! Back then, we reported that the fourth entry would be hitting us in "early 2019." That didn't happen. But we'll let you know when and if a new release plan is announced for this must-see flick.
Along with Stallone and Lundgren the EXPENDABLES series has featured such stars as Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Giselle Itié, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Yu Nan, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Kelsey Grammer, and Mel Gibson.