--- title: When a $789m film franchise turns risky - The Hustle description: When a $789m film franchise turns risky image: https://thdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/final_size-Expandables_20230921215625.png --- # When a $789m film franchise turns risky ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: September 22, 2023 Updated: October 04, 2023 You wouldn’t expect an action franchise fronted by Sylvester Stallone — one that has also tapped Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, and Jason Statham — to be anything but money in the bank. ![The Expendables franchise budget vs gross box office sales by movie](https://thdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/final_size-Expandables_20230921215625.png) But this weekend, Lionsgate will be sweating out the returns of *Expend4bles*, hoping it won’t become a Hollywood cautionary tale. #### **Wait, there’s another *****Expendables***** movie?** With the high-wattage cast — including Stallone, Statham, Andy Garcia, and Megan Fox — not actively promoting the film due to the ongoing actors’ strike, you may not have even realized the franchise has returned after nine years away. - The biggest pop in its marketing push came from cast member 50 Cent’s [since-deleted](https://www.insider.com/50-cent-slams-expendables-4-poster-2023-8) “WTF did we run out of money?” Instagram post, trashing the movie’s promo materials. That’s a rough start for a movie already facing an uphill climb: The studio reportedly spent heavily on it, despite the third film making $100m+ less than the second. #### **The summer has been flashing warning signs** With *Expend4bles* leaning heavily on stunts performed by a 77-year-old Stallone, it couldn’t have been comforting to see moviegoers unenthused by 81-year-old Ford leading the action in the latest *Indiana Jones*, a film that [struggled](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/indiana-jones-5-mission-impossible-7-box-office-flops-explained-1235690262/) to make a profit. Other action franchises’ receipts have been underwhelming. In a business where the [rule of thumb](https://gizmodo.com/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitab-5747305) says you need to more than double your production budget to make a profit: - *Fast X* made [$714.5m](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Fast-X-(2023)#tab=summary) on a ~$340m budget. - This summer’s *Mission: Impossible* installment made [$566m](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Mission-Impossible-Dead-Reckoning-Part-One-(2023)#tab=summary) on a $290m budget. With its rumored [$100m-$200m](https://screenrant.com/expendables-4-budget-box-office-prediction/#:~:text=The%20Expendables%204%27s%20Budget%20Is%20Reportedly%20%24100%20Million&text=In%20two%20separate%20interviews%2C%20Lundgren,I%20think%20around%20%24100%20million.%22) budget, *Expend4bles* has its work cut out to show that the franchise isn’t out of gas. **BTW:** Looking for a positive? Consider the greatest movie of all time, *John Wick 4*, which got the ratios right, costing ~$100m and pocketing [$432m+](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/John-Wick-Chapter-4-(2023)#tab=summary). ## Follow us on social media Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. 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