‘Stallone wasn’t involved’: Dolph Lundgren candidly explains why Expendables 4 didn’t work

Released in October 2023 to near-universal indifference, Expendables 4 was a colossal critical and commercial failure. With a worldwide gross of $37 million on an estimated budget of $100 million, it easily wins the prize for the saga’s loudest flop.

So far the previous 3 parts have worked quite well. The first Expendables earned 274 million internationally, the second 300 million, and the third 204 million greenbacks. Episode 4 therefore saw these recipes divided by 10, ending the action saga.

In comparison, Expendables 4 was released in France with only 327,756 entries, 1,651,849 for the first, 1,963,063 for the 2nd and 1,064,560 for the 3rd.

Causes of shipwreck

But why is it such a failure, despite the presence of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham or Andy Garcia in the casting, in addition to martial arts stars Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa? Dolph Lundgren, who has played the shooting colossus since the first opus in 2010, thinks he has found an explanation.

he asked ScreenRant In January 2024, he expressed his feelings without language. The star candidly shared some of the reasons why she feels the sequel failed. He particularly cites the film’s unconvincing script, Stallone’s limited participation from a last-minute replacement director, and the lack of promotion due to the Hollywood strike that occurred at the time of its release.

“I didn’t read the reviews because I almost knew what they were going to say. This project had problems from the beginning, and usually everything starts with the script. It really wasn’t good.”Dolph Lundgren was worried.

“I’m not playing the lead so it’s hard for me to comment on some things, but I know Stallone wasn’t involved as usual. He was just playing a character and when he’s in charge, the quality is always there, it never drops below a certain level.”continued the 67-year-old actor.

I think there was a problem in the script and then the director was changed about a month before the shooting. So between those two things, it’s hard to make a really good movie.

Have you forgotten your team spirit?

“But he wasn’t involved there, so I think the problem was the script, and then they changed the director a month before shooting. So between those two things, it’s hard to make a really good movie. I also think the originals, especially the first two, were about team spirit.”Dolph Lundgren said.

“It was a collective adventure and some of that was lost; I was sad to see the film go in that direction. It’s a shame because 50 cents was in it and it was great Megan Fox Also, they were all good assets. Besides, the film was released during the strike, which was not very smart, so they couldn’t do any promotion.”– the artist analyzed.

It was a collective adventure and part of it was lost; I am very sad that the film is going in this direction.

“If there had been a big, star-studded premiere, with Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Stallone, Statham, the rest of the crew, me, Andy Garcia, there would have been more attention around the movie. And I’m sure it would have been better, but very bad. I was disappointed.”concluded Ivan Drago’s legendary interpreter in the Rocky Saga.

Indeed, all these ingredients together created a perfect recipe for disaster. In addition to its abysmal failure at the box office, Expendables 4 is also the lowest-rated installment in the franchise: with a 1.4 out of 5 by the press and a 1.6 out of 5 by viewers on AlloCiné, it’s not really known.