‘Expend4bles’ Nabs $750,000 at Thursday Box Office

“Expend4bles” got off to a soft start on Thursday, earning $750,000 in preview showings. That compares to the $875,000 earned by “Expendables 3” in August of 2014, which led to a $16 million Fri-Sun debut. Nine years later, with poor reviews (14% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the series high of 67% for “Expendables 2” in 2012) and little in the way of buzz or excitement, the latest Sylvester Stallone/Jason Statham actioner looks like — at least in America — another example of a franchise continuation that nobody asked for.

The new film again stars Stallone and Statham while also bringing Megan Fox, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais onboard. That doesn’t quite have the commercial allure of seeing Stallone, Statham and (depending on the installment) the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford and Antonio Banderas saving the world together.

Barring excessive frontloading or unexpected casual weekend business, “Expend4bles” should earn between $10 million and $15 million this weekend. Lionsgate is only a distributor in North America and the U.K. They are also presumably banking on casual PVOD business and conventional post-theatrical revenue.

Elsewhere, the film already stumbled in China, earning just $11 million last weekend. It’ll earn a lot less than the $72 million earned by its predecessor. As we saw with “Fantastic Beasts,” “X-Men” and the “Terminator” series, China is entirely capable of showing up to a franchise installment but turning its nose at the next one.

It’s frankly odd that “Expend4bles” even exists in big-budget theatrical form at all. “Expendables 3” bombed with $39 million domestically and $215 million worldwide, meaning China made up a third of its total. That compared poorly to the $288 million worldwide total of the first “Expendables” in 2010 and the $315 million cume of “Expendables 2” in 2012. This fourth installment is a product of an industry that prizes IP to such an extent that not even commercial failure marks the end of a franchise.

One main culprit for the poor showing of “Expendables 3” was the choice to go with a PG-13 instead of the R rating of the first two films. The kids ignored their dad’s (or granddad’s) favorite action stars and flocked to “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” “Expend4bles” proudly boasts an R-rating for violence and gore. However, it’s still a nine-years-later continuation of a franchise that audiences explicitly rejected the last time out.

It’s also an ensemble actioner starring older action stars when most big action films are also headlined by elder statesmen. Keanu Reeves, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel and Denzel Washington are still kicking ass past the age of 50. Even VOD superstars Scott Adkins (47) and Michael Jai White (55) are theoretically too old for this shit. The core hook of the franchise is now even less special amid a sea of refreshingly old-school action movies.

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