One of the most curious aspects ofExpend4bles, the fourth installment in theExpendablesaction film series, is trying to figure out exactly why series distributor Lionsgate and star Sylvester Stallone thought that audiences wanted to see anotherExpendablesfilm, given the downward trajectory that the series has been on, commercially and creatively, over the past decade.
Indeed, all available evidence suggests that audiences had long ago lost interest in theExpendableseries, which, prior to the release ofExpend4bles, had been dormant since 2014, when the previous installment,The Expendables 3, was released to commercial indifference and overwhelmingly negative reviews.
However, at its current snaillike box office pace,Expend4bles, which is also known asExpendables 4, is set to makeThe Expendables 3look like a blockbuster success story, as whileExpend4bleshas indeed received the worst reviews of any film in the series, the film’s current box office performance, both domestically and overseas, represents one of the most precipitous commercial declines for any film series in history.
Moreover, as Lionsgate andStallone were seemingly hopingthatExpend4bleswould appeal to a sense of nostalgia, both toward the series and Stallone, the utter commercial rejection of the film suggests that audiences have either completely lost interest in theExpendablesfilm series or had assumed, after nearly a decade of dormancy, that the series was already dead.
An Over-the-Hill Franchise
Given the disappointing box office performance ofThe Expendables 3andthe fact thatExpend4bleswas being released amidst the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the opening weekend box office projections forExpend4bleswere fairly modest, as industry insiders expected the film to gross between $15 million and $17 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend of release.
In comparison, the opening film in the series,The Expendables, released in 2010, grossed nearly $35 million in its opening domestic box office weekend, while the 2012 sequelThe Expendables 2andThe Expendables 3grossed approximately $28.5 million and $15.8 million, respectively, in their opening domestic box office weekends.
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However,Expend4blesfell far shortof the relatively modest commercial bar that was set for it, as the film grossed just over $8 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, in whichExpend4bleswas beaten out for the number one spot on the North American box office chart by the horror filmThe Nun II, a third-weekend holdover.
Moreover, the film’s dismal opening weekend domestic box office performance only intensified throughout the following week, as the film’s second-weekend domestic gross of approximately $2.5 million represented a nearly seventy percent drop from the previous weekend, for a doomed current domestic box office total of only just over $13.2 million.
Crashing Overseas
As the popularity of theExpendablesfilm serieshas steadily declined, certainly in terms of domestic box office performance, over the past decade, theExpendablesfilms have typically found commercial respite in the international markets, where the last installment,The Expendables3,grossed over $175 million, nearly four and a half times what the film grossed at the domestic box office.
However, whileExpend4bleshas continued the series trend of performing much stronger at the international box office than domestically,Expend4bleshas, through the film’s second weekend of worldwide release, only grossed approximately $23.1 million overseas for a current worldwide box office total of approximately $36.4 million.
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Moreover, whileExpend4bleshas received many points of criticism, including for lethargic action sequences and plotting and shoddy effects work, the film’s disappointing overseas box office performance can perhaps be most attributable to weak casting.
While the international-flavoredExpendablesfilm series previously revolved around the presentation of a cavalcade of 1980s and 1990s film stars, with appearances by Mel Gibson, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, and Bruce Willis, the most notable additions to the cast ofExpend4bles, beyond the presence of series stalwarts Dolph Lundgren, Sylvester Stallone, and Jason Statham, are 50 Cent and Megan Fox.
Without the anticipation and excitement that was generated from having multiple action film stars appear together in one film, in various hero-villain combinations, overseas audiences doubtlessly perceived thatExpend4blessimply lacked the crucial bang-for-the-buck element that defined, for better and for worse, the previous films in the series.
An Epic Flop
With a production cost of approximately $100 million,Expend4bles, which is the most expensive film intheExpendablesfilm series, is set to become not only the least commercially successful installment within theExpendablesfilm series, and by a wide margin, but also one of the biggest box office disasters of 2023.
The only solace to be taken from the film’s box office performance is that asExpend4bleswas released amidst the SAG-AFTRA strike, the film’s reported marketing costwas only approximately $20 million, a very low figure for a would-be blockbuster film.
However, even with such a low marketing cost, the film’s current worldwide box office total of approximately $36.4 million is woefully short of the film’s worldwide box office break-even point, which is estimated to be between $250 million and $300 million.
Indeed, with its box office life, both domestically and overseas, seemingly nearing the point of exhaustion after only two weekends of release, the only hope thatExpend4bleshas of recouping some of its financial loss is through video-on-demand platforms, whereExpend4blesprobably belonged all along.
