It’s no secret that The Expendables 4 flopped at the box office. After a dismal $8.3 million opening weekend, The Expendables sequel failed to make up lost ground, ending its box office run with a paltry $37.9 million worldwide.
Now, Dolph Lundgren says he has some idea about what went wrong. “I didn't read the reviews, because I kind of knew what they were gonna say,” he told ScreenRant. “That project had issues from the beginning, and it usually starts with the script, it really didn't really have a good script.”
Lundgren has played Gunner Jensen since the franchise debuted in 2010 with The Expendables. However, the long-time action star explained that previous installments met a certain caliber thanks to Stallone’s original scripts. But this time around, Stallone wasn’t involved in the writing process.
“I'm not playing the lead, so it's hard for me to weigh in on some of those issues,” he explained. “But I know Stallone wasn't involved like he usually is. He just played a character in it, and when he's in charge, the quality is going to be pretty good, it doesn't drop below a certain level.”
Instead, The Expendables 4 script was penned by several screenwriters – the most recent draft written by Spenser Cohen and Max Adams. But crucially, not Stallone. “He wasn't involved, so I think the problem was with the script, and then the director was replaced, like, a month before shooting," Lundgren explained.
Patrick Hughes was originally on board to pick up the story from The Expendables 3, which he also directed.
However, just before filming was due to begin, he was replaced by Scott Waugh. Unfortunately, all of this added up to what sounds like a pretty troubled production, that had already been hit with delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result was a film that failed to live up to its predecessors and a box office total that pales in comparison to its reported $100 million budget.
“Between those two things — it's hard to make a really good movie,” said Lundgren. “I also think that the originals, the first two especially, it was kind of about the team. It was about a team effort, and some of that got lost, so I was sad to see it go that way. Because 50 was in it, he was great, and Megan Fox, they were all good assets. Also, the picture opened during the strike, which wasn't very clever, so they couldn't do any publicity. If you would have had a big star-studded premiere with Megan and 50 and Stallone and Statham, and the rest of them, myself, Andy Garcia, there would have been more eyeballs on it. And I'm sure it would have done better, but it's too bad. I was disappointed.”
IGN’s The Expendables 4 review gave it 3/10 and said: “Expend4bles is a crushing disappointment that lacks any of the nostalgia, charisma, and charm that made the franchise appealing in the first place. Perhaps worst of all, this failed mission is boring. There is no pleasure taken in saying this once highly entertaining action franchise is well past its AARPrime. It would have been great to have rounded the series off with a fifth entry, but after this flat and uninspired effort, the franchise doesn’t deserve that last hoorah.”
Want to read more about The Expendables? Check out how to watch The Expendables 4 online and why Jean Claude Van Damme was rejected from the Fast & Furious franchise.
Image credit: Photo by Jun Sato/WireImage
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
