THE EXPENDABLES (Sylvester Stallone, 2010)

[Jox]

R rating for "Strong action and bloody violence throughout and some language" was added to the website...

Seems that the PG13 talks was total bogus
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2010/06/ ... es_rat.php

In response to yesterday's story about about an alleged debate within Lionsgate about whether to release Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables with an R or a PG-13 rating, I was informed earlier today by a Lionsgate rep that the action pic "has always been conceived as an R-rated film, as Stallone himself has confirmed to other press outlets throughout the filmmaking process. There is not a PG-13 version of the film in the works, nor has there ever been. The MPAA R rating is official and final."

[MFS]

R rating for "Strong action and bloody violence throughout and some language"

HURRAY!

[Craigie-Boy]

R rating for "Strong action and bloody violence throughout and some language"

HURRAY!

Good stuff - I like that Stallone isn't afraid to depict graphic violence in his recent films, or to have his films be given the highest age certificate. Rambo was probably the most violent film of recent years (some would say ever), and wasn't afraid to go for such a high rating. Sure, it may mean that its box office takings weren't as high as they would have been if the film had been watered down, but again, I don't think Stallone was really concerned with how much money it did or did not make. He wanted to make a film that depicted the Burmese-Karen conflict as it really is, and he did that.

So I hope that The Expendables will follow suit and not shy away from violence so it can earn more money at the box office. Too many 'action' movies of recent years have watered down their violent content so that more people can go and see them. I for one am grateful that Sly at least is doing his own thing.

[Jox]

The hypocrisy is I actually do find PG13 movies today to be sometimes as violent as R movies (or more violent than they used to) but the MPAA rating rules are so anal that it makes no sense.The violence is not watered down it's in a different way...

[Moltisanti]

New TV spot:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=66919

Why aren't they using the song from first trailer anymore? Would take that over KISS.

[Jox]

Do you remember guys that was before THE EXPENDABLES was ever mentioned, Dolph told Empire in 2007 he thought about doing an 80s action rat pack with Chuck Norris and Van Damme?
http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/dolph-in/empire2007.html

You know, I was thinking today, it would be great to make movie with the 80's action rat pack: Jean-Claude and a few others. There are issues with schedules and age and so on, but maybe I'll be the one to make it happen. I was talking to Chuck Norris' people about doing something with him, maybe an action comedy...

[Jox]

Interesting Q&A with Stallone about marketing
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... 22dc755891

But there was a mistake that I thought was catastrophic: There were three minutes and 40 seconds shown at Venice. It was a marketing ploy. But once it gets out there, it's gonna go viral. It's gone. And sure enough, that rough footage, strung together just for the Venice Film Festival attendees, went public and the film was suddenly not as anticipated. There were a lot of people who were saying, "Oh wow. This doesn't look anywhere near as good." Or, "That's kind of cheesy." The good thing now is, five, six months later, they've seen the real trailer and a lot of that cloud has been lifted. But it caused a lot of damage, showing something that was still uncooked.

[MFS]

Good interview, and I truly sympathize with Sly's frustration over the leaked footage, though I don't think it did any real damage in the end, once the actual trailers were released. And besides, those who failed to, or maybe didn't want to understand that the leaked footage wasn't finished, and therefor shouldn't be judged prematurely, are hardly worth paying attention to anyway.

[Mosquito]

MFS I agree. I certainly didn't think it was bad. Because of the things we knew very early, I was just totally happy to get a glimpse, no matter what. And I thought it looked really good! On the other hand, I was totally convinced of the quality before I saw the very first picture. Other people, not us die hard fans, might have been much more sceptic. I still can't see the damage. It added to the building of the hype! Really can't wait do FINALLY see that masterpiece of action overflow!!!

[MFS]

MFS I agree. I certainly didn't think it was bad. Because of the things we knew very early, I was just totally happy to get a glimpse, no matter what. And I thought it looked really good! On the other hand, I was totally convinced of the quality before I saw the very first picture. Other people, not us die hard fans, might have been much more sceptic. I still can't see the damage. It added to the building of the hype! Really can't wait do FINALLY see that masterpiece of action overflow!!!

I liked the leaked footage as well, despite the lesser picture and sound quality - which some uninformed people had a problem with - and it's still the best glimpse we have of Gunnar Jensen. I have never doubted the greatness of the film, my only concern was the rating, and that is now a non-issue. I could see it being a disappointment, but not a big one, no way. This is just the sort of movie that simply can't go wrong, there could be pink flamingos in it, dancing with umbrellas, and it would still be awesome.

It's not just my birthday that I'll celebrate in August - I will also go and see The Expendables as many times as I can, to witness the return of manly-men action cinema, and Dolph Lundgrens great comeback to the silver screen.

[Jox]

First clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm777hwZ ... eature=sub


Boxoffice.com forecasts an opening week-end at $19 million to culminate at a $47 million domestic. This is only a speculation and I guess that the A-TEAM numbers didn't help.
http://www.boxoffice.com/featured_stori ... forecast-2

Viral site
http://expendablesthemovie.com/areyouexpendable/

[MFS]

Nice clip, though it looks heavily edited, which I guess is expected, since it's just a short promo.

$19 million OW? $47 million domestic? Yeah I agree Jox, this is probably because of A-Team, which I think is a flawed comparison. Not that box office analysts usually are that accurate, anyway, especially when they're this early. I know that my $30 million OW prediction might be optimistic, but with the all-star cast, a perfect release date, big-budget action, the "R"-rating (a positive for once) and huge hype, as in alot of people expressing their intent on watching this, I just can't see it going under $25 million. It might even break out and make $45-50 million, if it can reach the kind of audience "300" did.

Gonna check out the viral site now.

[Jox]

A-Team, which I think is a flawed comparison.

Eaxctly since I never cared about the A-TEAM and even though the cast wasn't bad it wasn't anything to excite you which is the opposite of THE EXPENDABLES... The big question is as always if it will draw outisde of the fans, the old-school action nostalgics etc, hopefully it will, since it is somewhat never seen before.

[Tom]

I think there's been more buzz, promo and hype for the Expendables. The thing with the A-team too, people were put off by the CGI in the trailer. I also don't think they pushed the film enough, gave it enough promo. It doesn't really have a big name either. Neeson's the most well known, but he's not exactly mr box-office.

TE might have a lot of stars past their heyday, but just the whole grouping gets people talking and curious.

I expect TE to bring home around 100mill in the US. There's not a lot out with it, and of all the kick ass action spectaculars of the year, it's the one that most people wanted to see.

The A-Team, after so many years of talking about doing a film, almost seemed to come out as obligation, slightly belated. In the end, I don't think people were too bothered. Putting itself up against The Karate Kid was also going to eat into it's takings. Similar fare, family action blockbusters.

[Tom]

AHAHAHAHA!

Would you believe it!?

I did the Expendables psyche test on that website, and I came up as most like Gunner Jensen!

Booyah!