The results are in, and EXPEND4BLES has proven to be an unmitigated disaster at the box office, with the action-packed sequel somehow conspiring to fare even worse than anyone could have predicted.
It was only this time last week that the return of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and the rest of the aging mercenaries was tracking for a domestic debut as high as $15 million, but in the end it didn’t come anywhere close. An $8.3 million bow couldn’t even topple The Nun II in its third weekend, and it’s bad news for a blockbuster that cost a reported $100 million to produce.
In an even more alarming development, EXPEND4BLES is the 22nd follow-up to an established movie that Stallone has appeared in during his long and illustrious career, and it’s fared worse than any of them to have scored a wide theatrical release since his very first, which came when Rocky II opened to $6.4 million back in 1979. Even then, the boxing sequel would go on to haul in $200 million on a $7 million budget, and it equates to roughly $27 million adjusted for inflation.
If you exclude the second and third Escape Plan installments because they never sniffed the inside of a theater, the fourth Expendables has earned less money through its first three days in theaters than any Stallone-starring franchise flick in 43 years.
That even includes ones he directed but didn’t star in like Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, successors to IPs he didn’t originate including Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, and if you want to split hairs his uncredited cameo in Taxi 3 netted more in its native France than Barney Ross’ latest return did Stateside. In a word, ouch.