Actor Dolph Lundgren says that The Expendables 4 has twice the budget of the last film in the series. Lundgren plays Gunner Jensen in the action franchise, which collects a group of mercenaries together to fight off threats around the world. Created by and starring Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables brings together action stars from the 80s, 90s, and beyond to recreate the kind of macho, high-energy action films of that era. Previous films have included stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Mel Gibson, among others.
The last entry, The Expendables 3, released in 2014, was the lowest-grossing of the series, which was hindered by an internet leak, a PG-13 rating, and a focus on a younger cast. However, it appears that Stallone and co. have learned their lesson from that debacle, with The Expendables 4 returning to an R rating and re-focusing on the older, seasoned cast, including Jason Statham, Randy Couture, Stallone, and Lundgren. However, new additions have been added to the cast, including martial arts stars Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa, as well as stars like Andy Garcia, Megan Fox, and 50 Cent.
In a new interview with PopCulture, Lundgren explains what makes The Expendables 4 different from the previous films in the series, with the star commenting firstly that the budget is "definitely bigger", saying "the budget is probably at least twice what the last one was, I think." The budget for the first entry, The Expendables, was $80 million, while the sequel, The Expendables 2, clocked in at $100 million, which was the same for The Expendables 3. The Expendables 2 was the most profitable theatrically thus far, so the hope is that the fourth film will be able to return to that precedent.
Lundgren goes on to talk about what makes The Expendables franchise special, noting that, "a lot of these action franchises today are based on superheroes, and they're for young viewers." The actor explains that the problem with this is that the stakes are a bit lower than the action romps The Expendables franchise styles itself after. He notes that the superhero films of today are fairly innocuous, saying, "So there's no blood. Nobody gets killed. People get banished to another universe." Ironically, the lack of blood and carnage in The Expendables 3 is what most believe to be the reason behind its failure.
While a bigger budget can always be beneficial to any project, the greater need for The Expendables 4 to be successful is for the franchise to return to what made it fun to begin with, namely the R-rated throwback to the 80s action era. With many of the old favorites assembled, including Stallone, Statham, and Lundgren, along with Act of Valor director Scott Waugh at the helm, The Expendables 4 appears to be working toward recapturing the old magic, but the story, characters, and execution will all be paramount to that success. Injecting some international action stars, a female action hero, and doubling up the budget are a good addition to reinvigorating the franchise.
Source: PopCulture