Stallone Quitting His Biggest Franchise? Passes The Baton To His Successor
It looks like Sylvester Stallone is moving on from his biggest franchise. He took to Instagram and passed the baton to his successor
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Sylvester Stallone knows a thing or two about leading successful movie franchises. He’s had a number of them over the last few decades with some of the most iconic roles in the industry. But he also knows that a franchise needs to live one without him, that even if he steps away there are others who can pick up the mantle in his stead. That seems to be the case with Sylvester Stallone and The Expendables franchise with the actor moving on and passing the baton to Jason Statham for the next run of movies.
Sylvester Stallone recently took to Instagram to record a short message after his last day of filming The Expendables 4. It was a short, bittersweet, somewhat somber, but also hopeful message about the franchise, Statham, and some of Sylvester Stallone’s thoughts about the movies he’s put together. The guy clearly thinks a great deal about this kind of thing, not wanting to confine his particular brand just to explosions and bullets. Here, check out the message Sylvester Stallone gave to fans while on the set and see how he has basically named a successor when it comes to The Expendables.
In the Instagram video, Sylvester Stallone talks about how he had just finished up a “successful” stunt on the set of The Expendables 4 and then comments how this was his last day of shooting, not just for this particular movie, but also for the whole franchise. Could this final stunt have been the death of his character Barney Ross? That much isn’t clear. But what is clear is what he says next when Stallone says he’s, “Ready to pass the baton on to Jason (Statham).” After this movie, it looks like The Expendables will go in at least a slightly different direction with Sylvester Stallone no longer part of the mix.
It isn’t clear how this story for The Expendables 4 will shake out, but this is clearly a definitive walking away point for Sylvester Stallone for the franchise. He seems happy, or at least comfortable with the choice. It couldn’t have been easy, but it might be that he just knows it’s time. After all, he was responsible for helping to create this band of mercenaries, made up of some of the very best action actors the industry has to offer. Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed the original The Expendables back in 2010 and it was an instant hit. On its $80 million budget, the film turned in $275 million at the box office. The next two movies came in relatively short order with The Expendables 2 and 3 hitting screens in 2012 and 2014 respectively,
It’s now been more than eight years since Sylvester Stallone and company were last together on the screen, with the superstar briefly leaving the franchise over some creative differences with the studio. But he’s now back for his last romp through the firefights though he might not make it out of this next film alive. Though Sylvester Stallone is leaving The Expendables, he knows it’s left in capable hands with Statham among the best action stars out there right now.
The Expendables 4 is set to hit screens sometime next year and will reunite Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross and Jason Statham as Lee Christmas on last time. Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture are back for this one and they’ll be joined by Megan Fox, Andy Garcia, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and many others.
