Four runs at the box office of one of the most star-studded casts ever put to film within any genre culminated in a colossal box-office flop for Expendables 4, stylized as Expend4bles. The marketing altered slightly for this fourth outing, but ultimately couldn’t convince audiences to return for the Sylvester Stallone-led flick.
Around three years after this fourth film, having been rumored for years during the original run-outs of Expendables, an all-female action movie set within the same universe is reportedly back on. Expendabelles, as it’s provisionally being called, will need a very different approach to its predecessors if it’s to be a success.
What We Know About Expendabelles in 2026
Source: Pixabay
When they were first kicking around the idea of the Expendabelles as a separate project to Expendables, Milla Jovovich and Gina Carano were heavily tipped to be involved. The latter, in an interview with The Action Elite, said that she’d be involved only if “the character is good.” Since then, she’s made a return to mixed martial arts.
Originally, the film wasn’t seen as commercially viable because they couldn’t reason that such a team existed. Now, Expendabelles will be a kind of origin story, set in the late 1990s. It’ll introduce a new elite team and showcase their skills with stylized action sequences.
At the time of writing, the producers on board are presently assembling all of the creative talent needed to get the spinoff film off the ground. Given the way in which the Expend4bles went out and recent similar action films have flopped, such as the Charlie’s Angels reboot, The 355, and Birds of Prey, something special will need to happen in the marketing.
A New Approach to Marketing
The novelty of The Expendables was ridden well en route to its cinematic debut. It focused on the bombastic action, the unique collection of star actors, and leaned into some unique promotions. One was that the film’s distributor, Lionsgate, took over Yahoo!, showing a plane loop the website before crashing into its ad window.
After Expendables 2, despite an increased box-office return, the studio thought it fit to bring in the age rating way in to make it available for wider audiences than its former 18 rating (R in the US). The marketing, however, was all about flashing the cast names to the crowd without any real substance to what the film would be about.
For the box-office disaster that was Expend4bles, they opted for a bit of a change in tactic. The naming was one thing, but the trailers also frontloaded the inclusion of Megan Fox and a story involving her and a “new blood” cast around Jason Statham and Sylvester Stallone. As it goes, it was too late, with the $51 million worldwide being by far the lowest return yet.
Expendabelles will need to return to more creative and punchy marketing and promo ventures. Charismatic actors doing the rounds will help, but so too could novel moves like joining the collection of branded live casino games, as an example of a left-field effort. Already, franchises like Jumanji and Deal or No Deal have games here, delivering entertainment while promoting their brands.
An in-theme, action-packed Expendabelles live casino game could work in a similar way, subtly increasing awareness while offering a positive association to the brand with the film series’ target audience. It’d be novel and engaging, creating further headlines organically that generate conversation.
Expendabelles will have an uphill battle to recoup a decent box-office return, especially if it also gets a $100 million budget or more. A very strong cast is essential, but so too is utilizing creative marketing routes and emphasizing the story over the spectacle in trailers.