By now you Rambo fans know about Sylvester Stallone’s plans for Rambo 5, which up until now has been tentatively titled The Savage Hunt. Basically, Rambo was going to be sent out to bring down a super-solider turned savage killing machine by a government experiment gone wrong. The official synopsis for the film revealed that this somewhat surprising choice of storyline was actually based on the novel Hunter by author James Byron Huggins.

We here at Screen Rant heard this development and pretty much had the same reaction “Weird… But Cool!” The thought of John Rambo denying life to a “half-human, half-abomination” super-creature seemed like a logical step – after watching bad guys get blown to bloody chunks in Rambo 4, it was obvious that mere humans could no longer stand against the godly might of Rambo.

So color us slightly disappointed as we now are getting a rumor whispered in our ear, stating that Rambo 5 is going to undergo a (reverse) script change.

Our source on this claims to be a regular reader of one of the top Stallone fan forums on the Web. He passed on a message allegedly left by Sly himself, letting fans know of the change in plot for Rambo 5. See for yourself:

From Sly

Hi Craig,

This is from Sly to your followers:

To all the loyal SZoners out there,

I’m letting you know that Rambo has changed course and the story about hunting the man/beast will be done using another character in the lead. RAMBO himself will be heading over the border to a violent city where many young women have vanished .

There will be blood.

Best,
Sly Stallone

The “Mexico” storyline is of course the previously conceived plot for Rambo 5, which found Rambo taking on human traffickers/Mexican drug cartels, in order to save the life of a young girl. If this note is real, and Stallone and Co. are in fact going back to the Mexico plot for Rambo 5, then it’s safe to conclude one of three things:

1. Stallone and Co. felt that the Hunter-inspired super-soldier plot was too out of step with the Rambo universe.
2. The Mexico storyline was more timely (and fitting) for a Rambo movie.
3. All of the above, plus the fact that more money can be made by making BOTH films.

Hey, so long as it’s Stallone who suits up for the Hunter adaptation then I’m good with this switch(back). SOMEBODY needs to get a handle on this drug cartel/human trafficking mess, and it might as well be Rambo – somebody has to also get a handle on this rouge super-soldier mess, and it might as well be Rambo Sylvester Stallone.

Look, I just want to see Sly kill things (why do you think I’m going to see The Expendables next year?). Criminals, super-soldiers, death squads, drug dealers, whatevs… Some action heroes are just artists… Artists painting with bad guy blood…

What do you think – is our source on the money? Would it be prudent to keep Rambo looking like Rambo and save the exploits of Hunter for a separate franchise? Would you want to see Sly starring in and adaptation of  Hunter? Sound off and let us know.

Rambo 5 has been slated to start production in the spring of 2010. We’ll keep you posted on this story as it develops.

Source: Stallone Zone (Thanks to “M.K.” for steering this onto our radar! Appreciate it!)

We were going good there for about a week, having not heard another crazy update on what’s going on with the story of the next Rambo film in seven whole days… better than four big updates on the project in one week.

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt, as it’s officially called, is now about Rambo fighting some genetically altered half-human bloodthirsty maybe-immortal abomination that he, his partner “Beau” and a bunch of Black Ops dudes have to go in and hunt down.

Got it so far? If you’re confused or upset by this, Stallone says that this is “actually possible” so just relax, will you?

I am serious about two of the parts above though: my description of the movie is straight out of the official Rambo 5 synopsis and Stallone did just say that.

According to Reuters, Stallone had an interview to discuss some of his upcoming projects and he briefly touched on what has some fans going crazy over Rambo 5.

“I don’t want to keep repeating myself and just doing films about war… This is a very psychological film about sophisticated man fighting primitive man.”

“It’s actually possible today, with all the cloning and stem cell research, to actually have some experiments that don’t work very well and get out of control.”

And that simply means, upgraded villains for Rambo to deny life to. Win!

The more I think about this project, the more I dig it. We’ve seen him fight the real bad guys in real world situations four times now. This is our way to finally see Stallone make a movie based off of ‘Hunter,‘ the novel by James Byron Huggins for which Stallone optioned the rights to a while back.

If he had made that movie as a standalone feature, people would make the obvious comparisons to the lead character being Rambo anyway – they’re exactly the same. So why not put it under the brand name he’s established. It’s good that Rambo has a new, more menacing threat to deal with, and it’ll be also good to see a film that’s more psychological and strategically focused than pure action (as much as I love Rambo standing on a gun turret for 15 minutes doing his thing).

So, are you keen on the Rambo 5 plot? Or are you still desiring that Mexican drug traffickers plot hinted at two weeks back?

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt is set to begin production next spring.

Source: Reuters

For our next installment of ‘Rambo 5 Week’ – this is the fourth update on the project in the last 8 days – we have for you the (crazy) official synopsis for Rambo V: The Savage Hunt.

Here’s the story so far: Last Monday we reported that Rambo 5 was given the green light and it would start production in the spring. The story would apparently follow John along the U.S.-Mexico border as he annihilates drug lords in an attempt to rescue a kidnapped daughter.

A few days later, Harry at Ain’t It Cool News spoke with Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone, and found out that what we heard about the story wasn’t accurate. The fifth installment would instead follow the aging warrior in the Pacific Midwest, back where he originated, where he’d lead a black ops team to take down some sort of supersoldier(s) born out of a failed experiment in a secret military lab in the area.

It doesn’t stop there though; we quickly heard from a Stallone voicemail shortly thereafter that the movie wasn’t so much sci-fi as was reported and the comparisons to the Universal Soldier movies were completely off. It seemed many had misinterpreted what was said originally.

Instead, Stallone revealed that the film would follow him against a beast of man who’d completely lost control and escaped the facility. He’d be primitive in a sense but he’d have the capability to survive rivaled only by that of John Rambo. This military installation was instead working on people starting from when they were kids to unleash the savageness inside of them, turning them into intelligent and fearless warriors.

So, what we’ve heard about Rambo 5 has gone back and forth along with the reaction of readers. The latest news of the movie following Rambo hunting his equal sounded pretty cool and was a more believable plot thread than the supersoldier idea.

Now comes more news from Ain’t It Cool News that what we heard previous wasn’t too far off. The following synopsis was sent to Harry:

Reading this, I’m surprised at this sentence: “a TEAM of highly skilled SPECIAL FORCES KILL TEAM” – what does that mean? And the idea of Rambo having a young hunting partner named “Beau” is unusual as well.

Continue reading about the Official Rambo V Synopsis for an image of the possible monster and the novel the movie is based on!

Last night, we reported on breaking news for the next installment of the Rambo franchise, which centered on the story of Rambo 5 in addition to its title and first teaser poster. From what we heard, the idea for the fifth installment seemed a little odd and it resulted in some confusion and mixed reaction. This provoked Sylvester Stallone himself to quickly address the confusion and explain himself what the film’s story is (and is not) about.

Originally, I had this latest news written in as a hefty-sized update to last night’s post but I wanted to expand on it, now that we have a more concrete concept of Rambo 5’s plot.

Sly read the reader feedback to the news last night on several sites that over-emphasized the science-fiction aspects of the story for Rambo V, so he left a message with Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News, who first broke the news, to clear up the details.

Read on for what Sly’s explanation of Rambo V: The Savage Hunt…

In the voice mail, Stallone first emphasized that the story is not about him fighting a group super soldiers like in Universal Soldier, but instead, it’s about him and a team brought in to fight a “savage beast” of a man – A man that represents an “amalgamation of fury and intelligence.” (The result of conditioning people from when they were kids onward to make them fearless, intelligent and cunning warriors, a la 300)

This villain’s ability to survive is rivaled only by that of Rambo and that’s what makes the movie interesting. The doctors at this facility couldn’t control this guy’s mind and he became a “savage killing machine.” Hence, the title.

He also clarified again that it’s not Rambo battling a squad of super soldiers but instead that it’s like you worst nightmare, “battling your primitive self.”

Head over to AICN to hear the entire message Sly left.

[UPDATE: The official synopsis for Rambo 5 has been revealed and it turns out that what we heard before isn't too far off - we also know what the movie is now based on, so check it out here!]

Sly’s idea of this savage beast-like character adds a great element to the nature of the film. Instead of a focus on physical ability and raw killing talent, we’ll be seeing heavy emphasis on the strategic and tactical cunning of John Rambo and this villain, as one hunts the other.

I’m very interested in seeing this movie and I think hearing Stallone directly explaining what the film is really about will turn around the negative opinions resulting from the misinterpretation of what was reported last night.

I can’t wait to find out who he has in mind to play the villain of this film and if we see Rambo leading a black ops team, I think it’d be cool to see Matthew Marsden return as the bad-ass sniper (aka, School Boy) from last year’s Rambo.

What do you think of Rambo V: The Savage Hunt now?

Source: AICN

On Monday, Screen Rant relayed the great news of Rambo 5 being given the greenlight. It was reported at the time that the story of the next Rambo adventure would follow the bad-ass to the Mexican-U.S. border where he’d tear down a bunch of human traffickers and drug lords to rescue some kidnapped girl.

That part was secondary to seeing Sylvester Stallone back to gruesomely destroy the opposition.

Now comes word that Rambo 5 has a new title, a new poster, and the story we thought we knew isn’t right at all. Apparently, it instead will be about stopping some super-soldier experiments with the Rambo franchise taking a sci-fi twist.

Read on for the details…

Harry Knowles of AICN is pals with Stallone and spoke with him to clarify the matter. According to Harry, the movie is in fact set in the States as reported earlier but not by the south border as we thought. The movie will see John Rambo back where we first met him in the Pacific Northwest where there’s some sort of secret U.S. Military base working on a super soldier program…

Bear with me, I know what you’re thinking…

At this base, they’re attempting to unleash the “savagery” deep down inside of every person to create human weapons. As expected an experiment goes awry and some super killer is unleashed and this is where Rambo and a Black Ops team is brought in the clean up the mess.

Let me guess, Rambo was an early result of these experiments and that’s why he’s the perfect killing machine?

They’ve created a quick teaser poster for the film and here’s a look at it – Click to see the full version at AICN.

Normally, reading this and seeing the quality of this poster, I’d call April Fools… but it’s not April and it comes directly from Harry who spoke with Stallone. From their phone conversation, we also know that the film will include “The Savage Hunt” in the title.

If the story ends up following this path (it is very early in the process still), it’s certainly strange but still very cool in my mind. I don’t really care who the villains are and this sounds much more interesting than the human traffickers/girl rescue story. Bring it!

[UPDATE: Stallone left a voice-mail with Harry to clarify the confusion surrounding the film.  Click to read about the accurate story details of Rambo 5]

[UPDATE 2: We have the official synopsis for Rambo 5 which explains the story and reveals what it's based on]

What do you think of this news? Do you dig this story idea more than the last?

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt begins production next spring.

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

I really enjoyed last year’s Rambo which saw an older and more bitter Sylvester Stallone join a team of mercenaries to lay down the pain in war-torn Burma. Their mission, besides destroying a ton of bad guys, was to rescue aid workers.

He was as bad-ass as ever and at the end, many fans just wanted more. Fortunately, ever since that movie banked $113 million worldwide on a $50 million budget, there’s been talk of another installment.

At the beginning of the year, Stallone talked about it again and mentioned that it’s going to happen and that they were still deciding on where the film should take place, either in America or another foreign location.

Fast forward to today and the fifth Rambo has been greenlit! Reportedly, the story of the next Rambo killing spree follows the warrior as he takes on human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

[UPDATE: After several updates, we have the official synopsis for Rambo 5 and information on what it's based on - Click to read about the story of Rambo V: The Savage Hunt]

Sounds good to me!

I wonder if we’ll see him go solo on this one or fight with some allies like his last outing. That sniper who helped in out in last year’s Rambo was pretty cool and it allowed for Stallone to get close and personal on some evil folks… then again he gets up and personal on a lot of his enemies regardless so I guess it’s a moot point…

Production is set to start in the spring, near the release of his current project which has entered post-production, the eagerly-anticipated film, The Expendables.

Since The Expendables may turn out to be PG-13, it’ll be nice to know we have another Stallone R-rated adult action film coming our way in the near future.

Are you psyched for another Rambo adventure?

The Expendables hits theaters April 23, 2010.

Source: Variety

He had this to say:

Yeah, we are doing another ‘Rambo,’ but the conflict is whether to do it in America or a foreign country.

I had heard speculation about this possibly happening but I never actually believed Stallone would even consider the idea much less actually go ahead with it. Although last year’s Rambo was a half bad/half awesome movie (the first half being dreadful, but the second half kicking copious amounts of ass), it ended pretty much as perfectly as could be, bringing the character’s journey full circle to where we first saw him in the early 80s.

To me doing another film is wholly unnecessary and just seems to be to make money and nothing more. What more can possibly be done with the character that we haven’t seen in First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III or Rambo? The ridiculously full-on action was pushed to the max in the fourth film and I just don’t see the point in making another showing just more of the same.

But am I in the minority; does everyone else think it’s pointless making another one or are you yearning for more Rambo action?

Source: Extra

It looks like Sylvester Stallone is set to return to the role of John Rambo in… you guessed it, Rambo 5.

Lionsgate has appointed former Universal honcho Alli Shearmur to run the studio and one of the films in their production pipe line is Rambo 5.

Much like Rambo/ John Rambo (depending on where you live) it will be written and directed by Stallone. The fifth film in the mega-action franchise will shoot in Bulgaria and is expected to go before cameras reasonably soon.

The last Rambo made $113 million worldwide and it must have made a killing on DVD – there have been rumors circling since the release of the last installment, but many never thought that Stallone would pull the trigger on another movie. However, now that it’s on the Lionsgate production it’s a certainty.

Besides, Stallone has been quiet of late, I can only presume that he’s been hitting the gym and knocking out a screenplay.

I suppose if Arnold can pop up in Terminator Salvation, then Stallone can tie that bandanna once more.

Rambo: Fifth Blood anyone?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

You can definitely list this one under, “What the…?!?”

Incredible Love, the first Bollywood film to be made at Universal Studios, has lined up the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator franchise), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky and Rambo series), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns and the upcoming sequel Man of Steel) and Linda Hamilton (also from The Terminator series) to appear.

But don’t get ahead of yourselves excited at the prospects of them in full-on action-mode blowing stuff up. They’re only walk-on parts (i.e. playing themselves).

The actual plot involves “an Indian stuntman who takes Hollywood by storm but cannot find true love there.”

Its also the most expensive Bollywood production ever made. And that apparently comes from nabbing said actors. As producer Sajid Nadiadwala explained:

“As a producer, these stars are expensive. But as their fan I feel money is of no consequence.”

Personally, it seems like a waste to pay them a bunch of cash just to show up and say, “Hey, what’s up? I’m *fill in the blank*” I’d totally want to get my money’s worth and have a big musical dance number where Arnold and Sly compare their cinematic bad-ass-ness.

But maybe that’s just me…

Sources: The Times and Sify

I’d never put much stock in these rumors as Stallone appears to have a full slate ahead of him with the Death Wish remake and the ever gestating Edgar Allan Poe biopic.

However, you can’t keep a good action hero down and with Rambo’s $100 million worldwide gross Harvey Weinstein wanted to continue the franchise and keep the iconic character on the bigscreen.

It would seem that he got what he wanted (much to the disapointment of Mick Jagger).

Screen Daily is reporting that the new Rambo flick will lens in Bulgaria (of all places).

According to the trade paper (via Moviehole) the fifth installment of the action franchise will be one of the first films to use a new studio facility, that will include 10 new sound stages and new city street sets.

Moviehole says:

“Knowing it’s going to be filmed in Bulgaria essentially voids most people’s predictions that the next film would see Stallone back on home soil – USA”

I disagree, I feel that the film could be set in the USA, and that the Bulgaria shoot is a way to keep the budget low (and profits high). It wouldn’t be the first time Bulgaria stood in for the US, and if they are expanding city street sets then this is a possibility. Besides, there’s nothing that a bit of second unit photography can’t do to make you believe that you’re somewehere else.

Personally, I don’t care where the film is shot, I just hope that it’s good. I’d hate to see Stallone fritter away all the good will that he has been getting recently.

Rambo 5, is it a good idea?

Sources: Moviehole and Screen Daily

It’s estimated that it brought in $18.7MM vs second place Rambo at $18.2MM. Cloverfield fell 68% from last weekend – a second week drop of that magnitude usually means that a movie has received horrible word of mouth advertising. I knew it was going to split audiences big time into love it or hate it, but it seems that everyone who was going to see it went on opening weekend.

I’m curious to see how Rambo holds up in it’s second weekend: Will word of mouth bless it or bash it? Of course next weekend is the Super Bowl so movie receipts will no doubt be down regardless.

But back to the title of this article… Are people really THAT desperate for anything resembling a comedy that they pushed Spartans over the top? Or dare I say that people just have incredibly low standards?

If there’s a huge drop next week for that movie there may still be hope for mankind – but if it only drops about 50% I will weep for the future of cinema since it will encourage studios to pump out more dreck.

I mean seriously… Meet the Spartans is sitting at a 5% favorable rating at RottenTomatoes.com and even over at IMDB.com where the voters are much more forgiving, it’s currently sitting at only 2.6/10.

Of course I’m supremely confident that no regular Screen Rant readers contributed to this box office travesty…

Short version: If you’re a fan of the previous films, Stallone’s awesome new Rambo will blow you away.

After having seen some of the Rambo reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes and the overall rating of only 35%, I fully expected to be disappointed by Sylvester Stallone’s second revisiting of an iconic character. So you can imagine that it came as a complete shock to me when I ended up loving it.

Rambo opens with real footage of the nightmarish abuses that are currently going on in Burma. It’s very disturbing and at the very least I believe that Stallone is hoping that this will draw attention to what’s going on over there with the military murdering innocent men, women and children on a daily basis.

From there the film cuts to John Rambo in the Thai jungle (Thailand borders Burma) where he is out with a local man wrangling cobras. The local town’s main attraction involves shows were men taunt cobras, pythons and other dangerous snakes. It seems that he has been living there for a long time – living a spartan, simple existence among the local people.

A group of missionaries shows up at the local village, hoping that he will take them upriver into Burma to deliver medical supplies and assistance. Rambo asks them if they’re bringing weapons and they say “no.” At that point he refuses them multiple times, saying that without weapons they can’t change anything. However eventually the woman in the group (Sarah, played by Julie Benz) appeals to him and convinces him to escort them in his small boat.

Sarah ends up being the only one in the group that he really respects.

Soon after getting underway they come across river pirates and it doesn’t take long for ol’ John to be drawn reluctantly into violence once again in order to protect the missionaries in general and Sarah in particular. Suffice it to say that Rambo has not lost any of his edge in the 20 years that have passed since the last film.

I don’t think I’ll be spoiling anything if I tell you that of course the missionaries are captured and that they need some serious rescuing. The twist here is that Rambo doesn’t go it alone: a band of mercenaries are actually the intended rescuers and he is taking them upriver to find the missionaries.

Among the mercenaries are a couple of interesting characters, one of which kind of reminded me of myself on a really cranky day.

Make no mistake: Rambo is incredibly violent and graphic. If this bothers you, this film is not for you – but if like myself, you believe that if violence is portrayed in a film it should be realistic and disturbing, then Rambo delivers in spades.

Stallone’s latest, and no doubt final addition to the franchise lives up to the previous three perfectly. He brings the same life weariness to John Rambo here that he brought to Rocky Balboa in that film that was released last year.

Sure, it has some stereotypical characters and moments, but that barely detracts from the overall experience of the film, which will leave you with your jaw dropped several times during the movie.

Rambo is a mighty fine closing chapter for the character with a dose of social awareness to boot.

Thanks to Cinematical for pointing out that the official site for the upcoming Stallone movie Rambo has been updated.

Above is a look at what the site looks like and you can click on the image to visit it. As Cinematical points out, although the framework is laid out in a really cool Flash interface, there’s not a whole lot yet on the site beyond what we’ve already seen. There are a lot of “coming soon” sections right now, but it looks like there will be a lot of cool games and the like shortly, so keep an eye on it if you’re interested.

And yes, the final title is just plain old Rambo. The film opens on January 25th, 2008.

It seems like only yesterday that Stallone was down on his luck and unable to get a film financed. But following the success of Rocky Balboa he seems to be the hottest director/former action star this side of Clint Eastwood.

I’ll be honest with you, I was never really a fan of Sly when he was in his prime. I liked the occasional film such a Cliffhanger and my personal guilty pleasure Tango and Cash, although that does costar Kurt “god” Russell. However following his stint on that other movie related website last year (okay, I’ll mention them: AICN) I decided that he seemed like a nice, humble guy who deserved a break in this CGI infested world. I then went out and bought the Rocky and Rambo box sets and finally discovered the genius of Stallone.

Which brings me nicely to the new Rambo film.

When the trailer was released last summer it looked like a fun old school action film. Stallone must have asked the question: “What do my fans want?”

The answer?

Action, action and even more action.

Stallone appears to be willing to give it to us. In spades.

From what I can tell he must be listening to every rumble and grumble from the online community – changing titles and sharing ideas. If you’re reading this Sly: Hi!

The new outdoor Rambo poster has the feel of a guerilla marketing campaign and it shows a back to basics vibe that I think is inspired by the Obey Giant phenomenon. Check out this comparison:

What do you think?

Rambo opens on January 25, 2008.

Source: Latino Review

It’s toned WAY down from the previous footage that I had on the site a while back and is more of a standard trailer, suitable for all audiences. Looks like classic Rambo to me and I’m looking forward to this one.