--- title: When a $789m film franchise turns risky - The Hustle description: The latest in the Expendables franchise debuts against box office headwinds. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp --- # 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 11, 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. ![Expendables movies](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp?width=595&height=400&name=373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp) 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). Topics: [Entertainment](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/entertainment) [Movies](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/movies) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Las Vegas’ giant $2.3B sphere is officially open](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1838193352-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-vegas-sphere_20230928210654.webp) ### Las Vegas’ giant $2.3B sphere is officially open - ![‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2028008005-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-AI-WGA_20230927223315.webp) ### ‘AI is not a writer:’ Why the writers’ strike deal matters beyond Hollywood - ![Why do festivals keep ending in disaster?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/386875888-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Festivals_20230918220820.webp) ### Why do festivals keep ending in disaster? - ![The history of the Magic 8 Ball](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1746971161-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-magic8ball_20230803222804.webp) ### The history of the Magic 8 Ball - ![How IMAX keeps reeling in the big bucks](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1709714896-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-IMAX_20230629233556.webp) ### How IMAX keeps reeling in the big bucks - ![Pixar’s box office mojo is out of its element](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1828000125-httpsmedia.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesOlder20DatesApril2010202023Pixar-v2-597x1024.webp) ### Pixar’s box office mojo is out of its element - ![Barbie used up all the pink paint](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/143580975-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-barbie_20230606223657.webp) ### Barbie used up all the pink paint - ![How mermaids are flipping profits in the deep blue sea](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/184571649-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2030202023Little-Mermaid.webp) ### How mermaids are flipping profits in the deep blue sea - ![Sylvester Stallone picks the ultimate fight](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1124491020-HS-News-Brief_2022-08-05T012843.136Z.webp) ### Sylvester Stallone picks the ultimate fight - ![Movie theaters need Avatar to be a tortoise](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1621876651-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-20T014006.829Z.webp) ### Movie theaters need Avatar to be a tortoise 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. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "datePublished" : "2023-09-22T23:21:25.000Z", "headline" : "When a $789m film franchise turns risky", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/when-a-789m-film-franchise-turns-risky-1", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:10:03+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-09-22T23:21:25+0000", "headline" : "When a $789m film franchise turns risky", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```