Lionsgate had a pretty damn good year, all things considered. They launched very successful entries in three of its biggest franchises, including “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Saw X,” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” But they can’t all be winners and the studio suffered a real blow to the bottom line with the long-awaited revival of the action series, “The Expendables.” Audiences couldn’t have cared less, it seems, as the ridiculously titled “Expend4bles” ranks as one of the largest out-and-out theatrical flops of the year.
Directed by Scott Waugh, the fourth entry in the aging action star series topped out at just $51 million worldwide against a blockbuster-sized $100 million budget. Again, Lionsgate is only going to see about half of the money from ticket sales and that budget doesn’t account for marketing. This isn’t just a flop; it’s a downright ruinous result for a mid-size movie studio. Lionsgate can’t weather storms in the same way that the majors like Disney or Warner Bros. can. These flops hurt worse for them. At the same time, the studio should have known better after “Expendables 3” made just $209 million against a similar budget back in 2014. But the allure of blockbuster glory was too much for them to resit.
There is virtually no chance that this movie will be able to recoup that money, even with VOD, cable rights, streaming, etc. Sylvester Stallone leading an Avengers-like group of action heroes was a good idea back in the early 2010s. Now? It’s a tired concept that nobody asked for more of. Even adding in fresh faces like Megan Fox and 50 Cent couldn’t come close to arousing interest from general moviegoers. One can only hope that Lionsgate finally learns that chasing that blockbuster dragon has resulted in far more misses than it has hits over the years. A sequel for the sake of a sequel — especially an expensive one — is bad business. Plain and simple.