The Sylvester Stallone ultimate team-up action blowout we’ve all been waiting for – some since the eighties – is only a few months away and while it’s been silent on the news front for The Expendables since before the new year, we do have a new poster that came out today.

Remember that scene in The Matrix where Neo says “We need guns. Lots of guns”? This poster takes that idea and combines it with a large list of bad-ass action stars to form a pretty basic but enticing teaser poster for The Expendables.

We’re still waiting for an official release of the full trailer for The Expendables but we did get a brief look at what seemed (read: I hope) unfinished promo trailer back in October. It’s since been removed by request of Lionsgate but it did definitely give off a vibe of 80s style action but with it, 80s style cheese. I wasn’t that impressed but I still have an open mind as I await more from the studio’s marketing department.

I did enjoy Stallone’s latest Rambo and it’s hard to go wrong on the fun factor just with the idea of the project alone. Hopefully we get a tad bit more than just the semi-expected laughable dialogue and basic story, and I’m still swaying on whether I dig the idea of this movie getting a PG-13 rating.

Here’s the poster – head to IGN for the full version:

And here’s the previous official poster release:

Notice a re-occurring theme?

I like that list of actors and if you do to, there’s even more! We can’t forget that there will be a scene in the film which brings Stallone face-to-face with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I wish they had bigger roles, especially Arnold, but he was (and is) a pretty busy guy with that other job of his.

If you’ve not heard about The Expendables before, it’s about Stallone and his team of mercenaries who take on the jobs others cannot. They’re mission? To take out a Southern American dictator.

Stallone directed and co-wrote the film which stars himself alongside Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Danny Trejo and Mickey Rourke.

The Expendables opens in theaters on August 20th, 2010.

Source: IGN

As we come to the end of 2009, it’s time to look forward and put together our list of our most anticipated movies of 2010.

Last year could have been worse – 5 of our 10 most anticipated movies of 2009 turned out to live up to our expectations (including Watchmen, Up, and Star Trek), while the other five ranged from mediocre (Public Enemies) to downright disappointing (Terminator Salvation, Wolverine, Transformers 2). Of course “most anticipated” does not necessarily mean “movies we think are going to be awesome” – it’s “movies we hope are going to be awesome.”

This year the task was made a lot easier thanks to our senior editor Kofi Outlaw putting together Screen Rant’s 2010 movie preview, giving us a one-stop list from which to gather the biggies. While last year was a group effort, this year I’ve decided to pull rank and come up with the list myself, with some fine tuning help from editors Kofi and Rob Keyes.

So, without further delay…

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Screen Rant’s 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2010:

20. The Green Hornet – December 22

Green Hornet made it onto the list just on morbid curiosity. I’m a big fan of the 60s TV series and was hoping to see a serious take on it on the big screen. However the production has not been smooth to say the least with apparent differences of opinion between Seth Rogen, director Michael Gondry and Stephen Chow (who eventually left the production altogether), production delays, script changes, etc. We’ll see what the final product looks like at the end of 2010.

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19. Edge of Darkness – January 29

An older Mel Gibson as a father set on avenging the death of his daughter? Consider my ticket purchased and my seat reserved.

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18. The Last Airbender – July 2

M. Night Shyamalan has been a victim of his own success (and his ego) with each of his films getting pretty much worse than the one that came before. However here he will be tackling something completely different from anything he has ever done before, and based on the one trailer we’ve seen so far it looks like it may turn out to be impressive. We’ll see.

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17. The Wolfman – February 12

Benicio del Toro is a great actor and I’m looking forward to seeing him as the tortured soul cursed by the, uh, curse of the werewolf. It looks like they’ll be trying to do as much as they can with practical visual effects (although I’m sure there will be CGI as well) and that suits this film.

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16. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – May 28

Is this going to be any good? I have no idea – but it looks like a helluva production. And Jake Gyllenhaal as a buffed out action hero? Curiosity factor alone is enough to put this on the list.

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15. The Book of Eli – January 15

Denzel Washington as a righteous, post-apocalyptic bad-ass? Check. Gary Oldman as the bad guy? Check. A trailer that emphasizes both of those to utter awesomeness? Check. See you there.

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14. Robin Hood – May 14

While some were disappointed (myself included) that director Ridley Scott decided to drop a couple of unique concepts for the story from the final product (Russell Crowe playing both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, the sheriff as the good guy and Robin as the villain), this still looks like a great, reality-based update of the story.

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13. Alice In Wonderland – March 5

If there was ever a film that was suited to the twisted vision of Tim Burton, this is it. I’m not the biggest Burton fan and some of what I’ve seen in the trailer doesn’t quite work for me (the Red Queen’s head is so huge it looks cartoonish), but overall this is bound to be a feast for the senses and probably the closest a screen version will get to the source material.

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12. A Nightmare On Elm Street – April 30

The original Nightmare on Elm Street is a horror classic and we’re all curious to see how this reboot/remake turns out. From what has been shown it seems like they may tone down the humor and dial up some of the more realistic aspects of the story. Really looking forward to Jackie Earle Haley’s take on Freddy Krueger.

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11. The A-Team – June 11

With some interesting casting choices (Liam Neeson as “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper from The Hangover and Sharlto Copley from District 9) and director Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) behind the camera, this could turn out to be a fun hat-tip to the original series.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Click here to see our 10 most anticipated movies of 2010

Death has been working overtime this year. So far, Hollywood has lost legends Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Karl Malden, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, John Hughes, Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, David Carradine, Billy Mays and with only a couple weeks left in 2009, death has claimed the young life of actress Brittany Murphy.

According to TMZ, Murphy was found unconscious in her shower this morning by her mother around 8 AM at her home in Los Angeles, California. Paramedics quickly came to her house and determined that she was in full cardiac arrest (read: heart attack) and performed CPR all the way to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, just a few miles away. Attempts to revive her were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Brittany Murphy is survived by her husband of 2 years Simon Monjack and had no children.

Brittany Murphy was a beautiful actress with a varied and prolific career spanning TV, movies and music during her short 32 years. Her first major movie role came in 1995 in Clueless followed up by great performances in Girl, Interrupted in 1999 and 8 Mile in 2002 with rapper Eminem. From there she had a couple of misses in 2003 in Just Married with Ashton Kutcher and Uptown Girls but quickly found favor with women everywhere with her tear inducing performance in Little Black Book in 2004.

In 2005, Murphy snagged a role in Frank Miller’s violent black and white comic movie Sin City as Shellie and then sort of disappeared from movie screens but never left acting. She had a voice role in the 2006 CGI musical Happy Feet and voiced the character Luanne Platter on King of the Hill from 1997 to 2009. It’s unfortunate that she was in The Asylum action/drama MegaFault, released just a couple of weeks ago, because she was a much better actress than a B-film of that nature.

Fortunately, Murphy’s legacy will not suffer the same undignified fate like John Candy or Raul Julia who’s last films before they passed away where the atrocities Wagons East and Street Fighter respectively. Murphy has four more films in post-production that will release next year, but none are more anticipated then The Expendables.

As this story develops over the next few days, I’m sure that rumors of drugs and late night parties with guys that weren’t her husband are sure to be in the spotlight because that is what the media likes to do. Controversy, sex, drugs and people in the public eye falling hard from grace sell papers and bring web traffic.  Having a heart attack at 32 is a rare event and there is sure to be an autopsy to determine the exact cause but how about just this one time people ignore the sleazy media paparazzi and just remember a young actress who time on this earth was far too short?

Our thoughts and prayers are with Brittany Murphy’s family during this time of grief as Hollywood once again lowers the Silver Screen flag to half-mast.

Source: TMZ

As 2010 approaches, it’s time to bid farewell to the cinematic happenings of 2K9 – but what does the near-future hold for movie lovers? Luckily for you guys, we here at Screen Rant are dusting off our crystal ball and looking ahead… all the way to the year 2010.

Be sure to read through our entire 2010 movie preview (of over 70 movies!) to get the scoop on when you’ll be able to catch big flicks like Iron Man 2, Christopher Nolan’s Inception, Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shutter Island, Freddy Krueger’s return to Elm Street, a comic book adaptation that’s sure to Kick-Ass, an animated showdown between Dreamworks’ Shrek Forever After and Pixar’s Toy Story 3 – and for the ladies, a second helping of Sex In The City and an obscure little film called The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

…And that’s just the preview of the preview. Let’s get to the full list of 2010 movies.

You can click on any one of the movie titles to see our archive of coverage on that film.

If you’re impatient and want to skip around, here’s where you can find:

• 2010 Spring movies
• 2010 Summer movies
• 2010 Fall/Winter movies

Enjoy…

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JANUARY

Daybreakers

January 8th

Synopsis: In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher  (Ethan Hawke) works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

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Youth In Revolt

January 8th

Synopsis: Nick Twisp (Michael Cera), a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life falls hopelessly in love with free-spirited Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni’s encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego who leads him on a path of destruction with uproarious consequences.

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The Book of Eli

January 15th

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man (Denzel Washington) fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind. Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis co-star.

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The Lovely Bones

January 15th

Synopsis: Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, and directed by Oscar-winner Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones centers on a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

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Legion

January 22nd

Synopsis: After a terrifying biblical apocalypse descends upon the world, a group of strangers stranded in a remote truck stop diner in the Southwest unwittingly become humanity’s last line of defense when they discover the diner’s young waitress is pregnant with the messiah.

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Tooth Fairy

January 22nd

Synopsis: A bad deed on the part of a tough minor-league hockey player results in an unusual sentence: He must serve one week as a real-life tooth fairy.

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Edge of Darkness

January 29th

Synopsis: As homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.

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FEBRUARY

From Paris with Love

February 5th

Synopsis: In Paris, a young employee in the office of the US Ambassador hooks up with an American spy looking to stop a terrorist attack in the city.

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Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

February 12th

Synopsis: A young boy discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods. Based on the book by Rick Riordan.

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The Wolfman

February 12th

Synopsis: Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), a haunted nobleman, is lured back to his family estate when his brother’s fiancée (Emily Blunt) tracks him down to help find her missing love. Reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins), Talbot learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate.

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Shutter Island

February 19th

Synopsis: Up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Hospital. Teddy’s shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals “escape” in the confusion, and as the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything – his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

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Cop Out

February 26th

Synopsis: A comedy about two cops (Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan) whose adventures include locating a stolen baseball card, rescuing a woman, and dealing with gangsters and their laundered money. Kevin Smith directs. Formerly titled “A Couple of Dicks” and then “A Couple of Cops”. Now it’s called Cop Out.

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The Crazies

February 26th

Synopsis: The inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

Click to continue reading our 2010 Movie Preview

The first trailer for The Expendables made its way online the other week although it was unofficial, unfinished and quickly removed everywhere at the request of Lionsgate.

The movie brings together a plethora of action stars, most notably, those who kicked ass during the 80s. It was shaping up to be a perfect reunion of the stars we loved from back in the day. When we got to see the unofficial trailer, the quality of what we saw sure made it feel like an 80s action flick, which to me was good and bad.

From the footage, we never got to see two big names who we know are involved with the movie: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. Thanks to an Entertainment Weekly exclusive chat with Stallone, we now have some details on what Willis and the Governator will be playing.

EW spoke with Stallone (who’s also directing the film) over the phone after he shot the scenes with Willis and Schwarzenegger.

“I was just looking at the dailies, saying, ‘Jesus, this is amazing!’ I talked about this scene with these guys for a long time, but I never thought it would come to fruition.”

The scene that the two stars make a cameo in takes place in a church where Willis has called upon Stallone’s character to finally meet him in person, and see if he’s fit to possibly hire for a near-suicidal mission. After some smartass witty dialogue, in comes Stallone’s rival mercenary who Willis’ character has also called upon for the gig. Yes, that’s Arnold, and they’re competing for the same job.

“Bruce says ‘Well, there’s one other person I want to talk to before I hire you… And then Arnold, who plays my old rival, walks in. We have a history together. And we go back and forth and I tell him that I should have shot him a long time ago when I had the chance. Then it goes on from there. And here we are, the three of us trying to man up to one another, playing off of who we are, using our baggage in this one scene.”

So, that’s the lowdown on the powerhouse scene Stallone has tried so hard to put together – I’m glad it happened and I’m excited to see the end result on the big screen.

Participating in Sylvester Stallone’s dream project are Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Danny Trejo and Mickey Rourke. And as we know more info on now, there’s also some cool cameos from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

Are you pumped to see this cast together on screen?

The Expendables opens in theaters August 20, 2010.

Source: EW

Just yesterday, a promo trailer of sorts appeared online for Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming macho man action fest, The Expendables. We would have gotten it to you sooner, but as you’ll soon see, it’s not very well put together (editing wise, not the actual footage that Stallone shot) and doesn’t paint the movie in the best light. It’s clearly not a final trailer, but rather a slapped-together bunch of footage designed to give us action movie fans a taste of what’s to come.

So, due to that, we hesitated putting it on the site. But in the end we figured you might want to see it so we have it for you below.

Just keep in mind the footage is VERY rough, not edited together as an actual trailer and the music is weak, to say the least.

The Expendables is about a team of mercenaries who are sent to South America to overthrow a dictator. Sounds like a standard “man on a mission” plot that allows plenty of room for the sort of macho fight and shoot-out scenes that the movie promises.

Why does the movie promise that? Well, not only is Stallone writing and directing it, but he’s also playing the lead role and joining him are the likes of Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, Terry Crews, David Zayas, Charisma Carpenter and Brittany Murphy, with appearances (probably not much more than cameos) from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis to top that off….

The movie had me at Stallone!

Okay, enough names, let’s get to the footage and see The Expendables in action (get it?). As stated, it’s definitely not a final, polished, trailer, so be prepared for some rather questionable editing. That all said, enjoy the latest look at The Expendables:

TRAILER REMOVED BY REQUEST FROM LIONSGATE

See what I mean? I’m guessing that this footage was put together as nothing more than an extended teaser ahead of a proper set of trailers and TV spots. Looking past how it’s put together, the actual footage itself makes the film look exactly as expected: a somewhat cheesy but nonetheless balls-to-the-wall kick ass ’80s action flick throwback, featuring action heroes of the past (Stallone, Lundgren, Rourke) and present (Statham, Li).

I’ll forgive the badly done promo in lieu of all other nice details surrounding the project. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer than first expected to see the finished product, as The Expendables was pushed back to an August release next year, instead of its previous April release date. Nonetheless, that means we’ll have a nice action flick to round off the summer next year, in a similar way Inglourious Basterds did a couple of months ago.

Bring on the action, Sly!

What do you think of the first so-called “promo footage” for Sylvester Stallone’s action fest, The Expendables? Looking past the sloppy editing, what do you make of the film so far?

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the behind-the-scenes video that we posted about in April, as well the most recent batch of wicked stills from the movie.

The Expendables is scheduled to hit theaters on August 20th, 2010.

Source: TrailerAddict

Two big action movies that many people are looking for next year have finally been given official release dates!

Sylvester Stallone’s ultimate team-up film, The Expendables, was aiming for a spring release next year and now it’s confirmed for August. For Kick-Ass, the film that put on a big show at San Diego Comic-Con and only recently got picked up for North American distribution after a bidding war thanks in no small part to the positive reaction to the footage is now officially opening next spring.

This news comes to us thanks to a “Twitter exclusive” where we’re also reminded that Gamer, another action thriller, starring Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall, opens this weekend.

So, without further ado, here are the dates according to Lionsgate Studios:

• The Expendables, written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, opens August 20, 2010
• Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn, opens April 16, 2010

I’m excited for both of these films and I’m sure they’ll be in many moviegoers’ most anticipated lists of 2010.

Hopefully, some of the footage or at least a trailer is released soon for Kick-Ass as well as a teaser for The Expendables. Keep checking Screen Rant for more on both of these movies.

Follow Lionsgate on Twitter @lionsgatemovies and follow members of the Screen Rant crew by heading over to the About Us page for our accounts.

Will you be looking for these two flicks next spring and summer?

Source: Lionsgate

It’s been rumored for quite a while, but no official announcement had been made – until now.

Action icon Bruce Willis has announced that he will share the screen with fellow Hollywood legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Expendables!

Whilst presumably promoting his forthcoming Surrogates Willis informed MTV that he would be joining his fellow Planet Hollywood founders in the Stallone directed action film.

When asked if he had shot any scenes for The Expendables Willis said:

“Not yet, I haven’t united with them. I’m waiting for a call from Sly about when we’re going to try and make that happen.”

When quizzed for details about his character, the Die Hard star admitted that even he didn’t know details about the role:

“I don’t know anything about yet, haven’t seen any pages yet. But I’m excited about it.”

He’s not the only one – action fans have been waiting nearly twenty years to see these action men share the screen, and Willis admitted that the trio would be in a scene together.

“That’s the concept. That’s the plan”

And what a plan that is.

This news means that at the very least The Expendables is guaranteed a huge opening weekend (which was pretty much assured) and that it will satisfy action fans of all ages. As a man of a certain age (and a child of the 1980s) I’ve been looking forward to something like this happening for years, but I presume that egos and cinematic price tags got in the way of such plans.

Joining Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger in the action epic will be fellow action stars Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Randy Couture and Mickey Rourke.

That’s what I call good news! Now, if they can only get past this possible PG-13 Rating business…

The Expendables will be in theaters on April 23, 2010.

Source: MTV

Today we have a batch of new images from Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming muscle-man-packed action flick, The Expendables. For most action fans, the film had them at the casting of Jason Statham, Jet Li and Stallone – and then the cast was expanded to include the likes of Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren and Eric Roberts (even Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to make a cameo appearance) to ramp up the awesomeness even more.

Don’t worry, ladies, the XX chromosome is being represented too, in the form of Charisma Carpenter and Brittany Murphy.

What do you mean, “This is a guy’s movie”? I find that offensive and sexist…

The new Expendables images come to us by way of a site called Ethelmae’s Blog, via a tip from a Joblo reader called “Jorgen.” Some of the images are behind the scenes (i.e. not straight stills) and only a couple of images show the action the film promises (funnily enough those ones don’t involve Stallone or Statham). Nonetheless, it’s awesome to see this gang of actors together. The first image in particular is pretty exciting, check them out below:

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The Expendables are about to shoot a scene

Any movie with a title like The Expendables is one you figure wouldn’t be worried about having its main characters survive until the end. However, it seems that the suits behind the film are thinking far beyond the end credits of The Expendables – they’re thinking franchi$e opportunity.

NOLA.com recently visited the New Orleans set of The Expendables to talk with Sylvester Stallone and Co. about the non-stop action, big explosions and crew of muscle-heads that are the prime ingredients of The Expendables. In the midst of the interview, producer Avi Lerner let it be known that if the film clicks with audiences, we can expect more to come :

Definitely. We already have got some ideas about ‘Expendables No. 2,’ ‘No. 3,’ …Definitely, it’s a franchise movie.

Another textbook answer from the Hollywood Producer School of Pre-promotion: it’s never too early to start hyping your next film. Actor Terry Crews (who has a role as one of The Expendables) added to Lerner’s claim by stating he too would love to see a sequel or two (“The Renegotiables”) happen. LOL.

Seriously though, The Expendables has sounded like a golden idea (to me at least) ever since it was announced. A violent movie with a cast of tough-guys and action stars? Who wouldn’t like that? However, since the film has been in production there’s been rumor that it could get neutred down to PG-13 (a death knell for a film like this) and now talk of cranking out sequels before the first one has even made a red cent? Although, if they TRULY want to pay homage to 80s and 90s action films, then they should already be planning The Expendables parts II, III, IV, V, VI, VII…

Sly to the MPAA: Try making THIS PG-13!

On a tangential note, check out this funny quote from Stallone about the kind of cast they’ve gathered for the film:

We’ve got some tough men in this movie…I mean some bad-asses, trust me. The extras — you think I’m joking? — we’ve got extras in this movie that could conquer countries. I went to Brazil and got the baddest, toughest mercenary group… It’s staggering. Every one of them would just take all of us and snap us like spaghetti — and they’re extras.”

ROFLMAO! Brazilian mercenaries for extras??? Now that is what I call “an action movie!”

You HAVE to read NOLA.com’s full story about their visit to The Expendables set. It is truly a hilarious read. The operative word for this film (based on NOLA’s article): OVERKILL. Just like real action fans are chomping for. Screw that PG-13 crap!

You can read the full story here. Then come back and let us know what you think.

The Expendables kicks, stabs and shoots into theaters on April 23, 2010.

Source: NOLA.com via JoBlo

Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming tough-guy action movie throwback film, The Expendables, has been a holy grail of awesomeness for action flick fans everywhere. The cast includes some the genre’s most famous names, including Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren,  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in a cameo appearance). There’s now even rumor that Bruce Willis will make an appearance in the film.

Up until now everybody’s been aware of which actors would be in The Expendables – but what roles are they going to be playing? Who are the good guys and who are bad guys? Who will be facing off against who? Well, now have a breakdown of who is who and what is what in the bullet-ridden world of The Expendables.The info comes our way courtesy of The Playlist, which snagged a copy of The Expendables shooting script and spilled the goods to us, the curious public. Most of what you’re about to read is just character synopsis, but for some it could be considered SPOILERS, so be wary.

Rather than mooch off ALL the hard work done by The Playlist, I’ll give you the character synopses of The Expendables‘ headlining stars, Sly Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li, and then link you to the rest of the info. Here are the three major players:

Barney Ross (Sly Stallone): Stallone doesn’t write much about him, but his interactions with the other characters explain much without dialogue. Essentially, Ross is by far the oldest of the group, and as such is sort of a mentor to the others. he has individual scenes with each character, where they all end up revealing their insecurities to him through rambling, stop-start macho dialogue. Ross isn’t interested in playing armchair psychiatrist, but rather smoothing out the bumps so that the mission could go smoothly. There’s no origin or flashbacks for this or any other character, and you know Stallone “gets it”- everything you need to know is on the page.

Lee Christmas (Jason Statham): Second-in-command- takes it upon himself to bust every one’s balls, which carries a nice, compensatory weight when we learn he’s having terrible relationship problems with the his flaky lady love Lacy (Charisma Carpenter). He’s also lethal with knives, and carries the most sour disposition of the group – expect scowling.

Bao Thao (Jet Li): A private sort, the Chinese martial artist uses his feet as often as his guns. He is the most lonely of the Expendables, and clearly doesn’t seem to be friends with many of them. He takes quiet moments to speak about his displeasure with their jobs and how he wants a larger cut to sponsor his own charity.

Those are the top dawgs, but if you want to know more about who The Expendables are and what the film is all about, you’ll have to go here.

After a quick read of The Playlist’s review of the shooting script, I’m proud to report that The Expendables is looking like it’s going to deliver exactly the kind of movie you hope it would. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, seems to have plenty of tongue-n-cheek moments, as well as varied forms of ass-whupping incorporating everything from martial arts to knives to good ol’ fashioned bullets. Oh and plenty of explosions, as we’ve seen in the behind-the-scenes video clips. If this film ends up PG-13 (which is a possibility), don’t be surprised if you hear the loudest societal groan in known history.

The Expendables is still at the top of my list of “films to see in ‘10″. It will shoot its way into theaters everywhere on April 23, 2010.

Source: The Playlist

Warner Bros. has planted its adaptation of DC/Vertigo’s The Losers in the April 2010 lineup. The film – about a black ops team that goes looking for revenge on the Agency that betrayed them – will be released in close proximity to Sylvester Stallone’s similarly-themed mercenary/revenge actioner, The Expendables.

Will this move by Warner Bros. put the two films on a collision path? Or is April 2010 just going to be one hell of a fun month for action fans?

Screen Rant has been covering The Losers for a hot minute, but so far reader interest has been lukewarm at best. So in case you’re  hearing about the film for the first time, here’s a more detailed synopsis:

The Losers chronicles the story of a special forces unit tasked with waging the war on terror, who are ultimately betrayed by their handler, “Max,” and get left for dead. Of course they don’t die, but instead band together to get their revenge on Max, and also wipe their names and identities off a CIA “death list.”

So far casting news has included announcements that Jeffery Dean Morgan (Watchmen) would be playing the role of Clay, leader of The Losers, and that Idris Elba (The Wire) and Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) are going to play Roque (The Losers’ money-hungry second-in-command) and Aisha (the livewire hothead) respectively.

Since those early announcements, The Losers‘ cast has grown to include Chris Evans (Push), Óscar Jaenada (Che) and Columbus Short (Stomp The Yard) as Losers, and Jason Patrick rumored to be playing the villainous Max. Sylvain White (Stomp The Yard) is directing.

The Losers is slated for an April 16, 2010 release – the same weekend as New Line’s Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

Yikes: being wedged between The Expendables (an action film boasting an ensemble cast of the genre’s biggest names) and Nightmare on Elm Street (a franchise that already has a large established fan base) is a potentially precarious place for a largely unknown property like The Losers.

One silver lining: The Losers will be the only big film offering moviegoers something new (the cast is still relatively unknown, as is the comic the film is adapted from). We’ve all seen Freddy Krueger do his thing before, and the same can be said about Stallone and the rest of The Expendables cast. And if that latter film ends up getting slapped with a PG-13 rating… Fuggetaboutit… The Losers might windup being a breakout hit. Guess we’ll know when we see a trailer.

Source: Jo Blo

Rene Rosa (aka “Evil Adam”) over at UGO Movie Blog recently spent some time on the set of Sylvester Stallone’s tough-guy action flick throwback, The Expendables. During his time on the set, Rene managed to unearth a startling bit of news: According to producer Avi Lerner, The Expendables is going to be edited in two versions: A PG-13 cut and an R-rated cut, which will then be test-screened to determined which version makes it into theaters!!!

I haven’t cared this much about the opinions of focus groups since the last election.

Here’s how this startling news came to light: Rene Rosa was apparently probing Avi Lerner about the next Rambo film (apparently Rambo 5 is definitely going to happen and will be less brutal than the last installment), which led to a discussion about The Expendables and the level of violence we can expect from that film. That’s when Lerner dropped the bomb about the possible PG-13 cut.

PAUSE: We are talking about The Expendables here – a film that unites Sly Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren,  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in a cameo appearance). These are men who have, each on their own, caused enough onscreen mayhem to fill a L.A. swimming pool full of corn-syrup blood. How do you cram all those guys into one (awesome) film and then neuter it down to PG-13???

Eric Roberts and Steve Austin feeling the burn

More to the point: I know the studio wants this film to be a smash franchise (the budget has reportedly swelled to $80 million, what with all the big names and big explosions involved), but who is going to REALLY be the core audience for this type of movie? Young teens who don’t even remember the heyday of the tough-guy action flick? Or adult males like yours truly, who will flock to the theater to see his favorite tough-guys scrap? I’m not a damn little boy – give me my R-rated Expendables!!!

Seriously though, if The Expendables ends up with a PG-13 Rating, I (and I suspect many other guys) am going to be forced to wait for the unrated DVD/Blu-ray to drop. That will leave just some half-interested teens and impatient older-types to fatten the box office. Good luck with that.

Test-screeners, if you’re out there and listening: DON’T BE FOOLISH, THE EXPENDABLES NEEDS AN R-RATING. We know you’ll do the right thing (you better).

Do you think this news is as ridiculous as I do?

The Expendables is set to hit theaters on April 23, 2010.

Source: UGO Movie Blog

Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, a feature length film based on the mock trailer that premiered during Grindhouse, is set to start filming in five weeks, as learned by website Gordon and the Whale during an interview with the star of the film, professional Mexican badass, Danny Trejo.

While Trejo let it be known that Machete was on the way, he also dropped an equally bad bit of news: despite widespread reports to the contrary, Danny Trejo has not been cast in Sylvester Stallone’s action flick throwback, The Expendables.

For awhile now many (read: I) have speculated that Trejo’s character in The Expendables would be one of the actor’s trademark thugs; many (again, read: I) were looking forward to Trejo throwing-down with the likes of Sly Stallone, Jason Statham and Let Li. In these sorts of situations, when hearing bad news, I usually say “Ah well, C’est la vie,” and let that be that – but in this case it really is a damn shame. If you haven’t seen the behind-the-scenes footage or hardcore posters, The Expendables is shaping up to look like a highlight reel of my favorite 90s action flicks. Having Trejo onboard would’ve been like icing on the world’s most kickass cake.

As for Machete, I’m glad to hear it will soon be underway. Robert Rodriguez has promised us three great films: Machete, the sci-fi flick Nevercrackers, and the long-delayed Sin City 2. Now that Machete is on track for its 2010 release, it’s a good sign that Rodriguez is going to deliver on at least one of his promises (with a little help from a friend, of course).

Are you psyched to hear that Machete is moving forward? Bummed to hear that Danny Trejo will not be one of The Expendables?

Source: Gordon and the Whale via Collider

[UPDATE: Got two new hi-res images for you to enjoy!]

There are a lot of promotional goodies coming out of the Cannes Film Festival right now, the latest being some truly badass billboards and posters for Sly Stallone’s upcoming tough-man action-flick throwback, The Expendables.

The new posters highlight The Expendables‘ headlining stars, Jet Li, Jason Statham and Sly himself. Although, with a cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren,  “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger (in a cameo appearance), there could’ve been a lot more names crammed onto that marquee.

Here are the character posters for the stars of The Expendables. Will we be seeing more of our favorite Expendables each featured on his own poster (a la Inglorious Basterds)? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. For now though, we can enjoy this first crop of posters:

Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Jet Li aiming a gun??? Wow… maybe Li has truly gotten too old for all the onscreen martial arts acrobatics he used to do. Whatevs though, Jet Li with gun, Jet Li without gun… I’m sure he’ll kick just as much ass as he always does. Statham’s character looks like the “knife guy” in this cabal of killers. I always love the knife guy.

Now here are some shots of The Expendables billboards, as they appeared around Cannes. No, I was not at Cannes myself this year (stupid grad school), but I’m totally cool with living vicariously through the lives of other, more fortunate (read: richer) bloggers than myself. Thank Slash Film for these Cannes shots, and all these Expendables images, really:

[UPDATE: Click these Next Two Images for awesome hi-res versions!]

These billboards provide a bit of insight into the background of The Expendables: it seems as though they were part of some crazy marine unit (hence the term “expendable”), as evidenced by the militaryesque tattoo of the crow and skull (on what I assume is Sly’s ripped back), and that slogan under the main billboard, “Semper Fight.” Pure Genius.

We here at Screen Rant have already claimed The Expendables as one of our most-anticipated movies of next year, and if you are just hearing about this film for the first time, you definitely need to check out some of the official pics from The Expendables set, or the behind-the-scenes video of Sly and Co. at work. The movie is looking pretty awesome so far.

The Expendables is slated to hit theaters on April 23, 2010. Will you be enlisting?

Source: CraigZablo, EthelMae via Slash Film

]]> http://screenrant.com/new-posters-billboards-for-the-expendables-cannes-kofi-8438/feed/ 10 http://screenrant.com/behindthescenes-video-the-expendables-ross-7079/ http://screenrant.com/behindthescenes-video-the-expendables-ross-7079/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:41:53 +0000 Ross Miller http://screenrant.com/?p=7079

Although we’ve had a few looks at Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming action flick The Expendables, it’s only been in pic form so far. As awesome as those images have looked, with a couple in particular being extra-awesome because of Stallone showing off that he’s still got it at age 62 (can you believe it?!), it’s always a little cooler to see things actually in action.

Today we have the first ever video footage of The Expendables, a behind-the-scenes look at Stallone directing what looks like a gun pointing and tough-guy dialogue sequence, along with the filming of an explosion involving Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a little of Stallone greeting some screaming fans. It’s not a heck of a lot, but as I said it’s always cool to see things in motion:

This may just be the avid movie fan in me speaking, but it’s always amazes me the difference between the look of a scene being shot, and the actual finished product within the movie itself. What they are able to do to make it all look extremely cool on film always amazes me.

But I digress…

The Expendables is a project that has me more and more excited every single time a new piece of info, image or whatever else drops about it. The casting front is where most of the news has focused, with more and more tough guys being added to the already huge cast. I have said it before but it bears repeating – I just wonder if this size of a cast is going to work, or if it will divert focus from some of the people we are most interested in, namely Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li and, of course, Stallone himself.

I’m sure a lot of the cast won’t have that much screen time, but something tells me they’ll be pivotal to the story nonetheless…

I’m sure this won’t be the last behind-the-scenes video that we’ll see, and Screen Rant will be sure to keep you up-to-date with anything else about The Expendables that gets released.

For now, what do you make of this behind-the-scenes look at this action-fest? Are you looking forward to the movie?

The Expendables is scheduled to be released on April 23rd, 2010.

Source: FirstShowing.net

Two of the shots are pretty high on the action quota, while the other shows Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham on what looks like a reconnaissance mission.

Check them out below.

Sly is ready for action.

The male version of America’s Next Top Model was fierce!

Does this remind anybody else of The Specialist? No? It’s just me then.

From these images it looks like The Expendables is jammed packed with action–although would you expect anything less from a film starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh – let’s not forget about Eric Roberts!

The Expendables is still slated for an April 10, 2010 release. We’ll give you more on the film as we get it.

Source: Ethelmae

Is the cast for Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming action-fest The Expendables ever going to stop growing? We already have Stallone himself (who’s also writing and directing), along with Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Charisma Carpenter, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, Danny Trejo, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Terry Crews (thankfully replacing 50 Cent).

Well, it looks like the casting train isn’t slowing down any time soon, as two new faces have been added to the line-up: They are Brittany Murphy and David Zayas.

Murphy will play a singer and girlfriend to Mickey Rourke’s character; funny since they both starred in Sin City – I’m sure it’ll be nice to work on yet another action-oriented film together. I’m not overly familiar with Murphy as an actress, but can she sing well? She’ll need to be able to as the role reportedly calls for her to perform a musical number.

Zayas may be a name unfamiliar to you, but if you watch the fantastic TV show Dexter, you’ll know him as Angel Batista. He will play the South American dictator who the team of mercenaries (played mostly by the cast mentioned above) are sent to overthrow.

Although I am absolutely dying to see all of these actors in the one movie, bringing to the table different types of both acting and action style, I’m nonetheless getting a bit wary of the sheer size of the cast. It appears not to simply be made up of small, throwaway roles – these are big names, for the most part, which leads me to think they are all really important to what happens in the film.

I just hope the size of the cast doesn’t mean we don’t get to concentrate on some of those of most interest – namely Rourke, Statham, Li, and, of course, Stallone himself (in case you didn’t see them, check out some of the images of Stallone in action).

However, I have faith in Stallone because not only is he a great action guy, but he’s insanely talented as a filmmaker. Some people may forget that he wrote the original Best Picture winning Rocky movie, and came back to that franchise a couple of years ago, writing and directing the pretty-damn-great Rocky Balboa. As for his other big franchise, although the first half of the newest Rambo film was terrible, he showed when it came to the second half and the all important action, that he knows what he’s doing.

Since The Expendables is presumably going to be all about balls-to-the-wall action, I have every faith in Stallone that, particularly with that cast, he’ll give us something really kick-ass.

What do you think of Murphy and Zayas joining the cast? Do you think a cast of such a size is a good idea?

The Expendables is scheduled to be released on April 23rd, 2010.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Here’s  how things are looking on set:

Iron Man 2

Since shooting has barely even begun, these set images aren’t terribly exciting. Nonetheless, it’s pretty cool to see it Iron Man 2 finally underway and on schedule for it’s release next year. It’s also interesting to get a first look at Don Cheadle as Rhodey, the part he took over from Terrence Howard. Here are just a few of the set images (click all images for larger sizes):

Don Cheadle as Rhodey

Robert Downey Jr. has his Tony Stark swagger on.

The star stays shaded at all times.

A lot of people got upset about Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard in this film – the main complaint being that it breaks with the continuity established by the first film. Yes, it does technically break continuity, but it’s never a bad thing when you add a talent like Cheadle to your cast. I see no problem with the change of actors, since the character is obviously going to have an expanded role in this sequel, and that may have required something that Cheadle brought to the table and Howard simply couldn’t. Hey, it worked for The Dark Knight with the Maggie Gyllenhaal-Katie Holmes changeover, didn’t it?

There are only of couple of images, but I really like seeing what Cheadle is going to look like in the movie.

The Expendables

Since this film has been shooting for about a week and a half now, we obviously have some juicier images for you. The pics are mainly of Stallone strutting his age-defying action stuff while holding a gun. Ah, good ‘ol Stallone, eh?:

Stallone, tough as ever.

Stallone back in action (complete with trademark grimace).

It is amazing to see a guy of Stallone’s age doing this kind of exhaustive stuff at all, never mind for a movie. Since he’s not only starring but also writing and directing The Expendables, I can see why he would go full-on for it. There can’t be a man his age on earth who isn’t green with envy right about now…

You can see a full gallery of the set images for Iron Man 2 here and The Expendables here.

What do you make of these set images? Are you chomping at the bit to see either or both of these movies?

Iron Man 2 is scheduled for a May 7th, 2010 release and The Expendables is scheduled for an April 23rd, 2010 release.

Source: SpoilerTV

Kevin Costner, Ben Affleck and Tommy  Lee Jones are Company Men; Costner is The One; Silver rewrites Battle: Los Angeles for Aaron Eckhart; Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are in love; Magnum Pi hangs out with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in Five Killers; Dennis Quaid and Julianne Moore are Bill and Hilary Clinton in The Special Relationship and Moore is less for The Thing.

1. Kevin Costner, Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones will star in the independent drama Company Men. According to Variety:

“Affleck plays a corporate hotshot whose Porsche and six-figure salary vanish after he gets laid off. Costner plays his brother-in-law, a salt-of-the-earth drywall installer who gives him a construction job. Jones plays a senior partner in the firm, a principled man who struggles with the greedy actions of his partners.”

I sounds like it couldn’t be more suited to the current economic climate.

Affleck has been on the comeback trail lately and Costner is one of the best leading men around. As for Jones – he was never better than he was in No Country For Old Men.

The John Wells (ER) penned film starts shooting next month.

Source: Variety

2. Variety also has the scoop that Costner will be directing and starring in The One.
The film was written by Michael Blake the man behind Costner’s finest hour Dances With Wolves.

“Costner will star as a free-spirited man who inherits $3 billion, leading him on an adventure and an eventual collision with pirates in the Cayman Islands.”

I can’t wait.

Source: Variety

3. Scott Silver has been brought onboard to rewrite Battle: Los Angeles.
The film sees an alien invasion of Los Angeles and the battle to reclaim the city by a platoon of marines.

Chris Bertolini wrote the original script and Jonathan Liebesman is set to direct.

The Dark Knight’s Aaron Eckhart is attached to star.

Source: Variety

4. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are mulling over reuniting on the big screen for a romantic comedy. The untitled film that has previously gone by the name of Wichita and Trouble Man.

According to Variety:

“Story revolves around a woman who has terrible luck with men but finds her path intertwined with that of a mysterious handsome man she meets on a blind date.”

The film was originally being tooled as a vehicle for Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes.

James Mangold the director behind Walk the Line and 3.10 To Yuma will call the shoots if the Vanilla Sky duo decide on starring.

It is one of many films that Cruise is pondering at this moment in time.

Source: Variety

5. Tom Selleck, Catherine O’Hara and Martin Mull will join Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in Five Killers.

“The story follows a hitman (Kutcher) at the top of his game who falls for a computer tech (Heigl) and decides to hang up his guns. Years later, their suburban bliss is ruptured when he finds out there’s a hit out on him, forcing him and his spooked wife to go on the run.”

Magnum star Selleck and O’Hara will play Heigl’s parents.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

6. Dennis Quaid will play Bill Clinton in HBO’S The Special Relationship. The film charts the political relationship of Clinton and Britain’s Tony Blair. Michael Sheen seen recently as David Frost in Frost/ Nixon will star as Blair for the third time following The Queen and The Deal.

Julianne Moore will co-star as Hilary Clinton. Julianne Moore? Maybe they’ll cast Keira Knightly as Monica Lewinski…

Quaid will next be seen in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Source: Variety

7. It looks like Ronald D. Moore’s script for The Thing didn’t give Universal what they wanted because they’ve brought Eric Heisserer in to do a rewrite.

Heisserer has recently reworked the A Nightmare on Elm Street script by  Wesley Strick.

What this means is unknown.

Are they now going for a straight up remake and ditching the idea that this remake/ prequel will be a companion piece to John Carpenter’s original?

Maybe Heisserer is doing nothing more than a polish on the dialogue. Time will tell.

But wouldn’t it be cool if the reason Kurt Russell didn’t do The Expendables was his commitment to this?

Just hoping.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.