4 Reasons Why Expendables 4 Bombed At The Box Office  

When the first The Expendables movie was released in 2010 it created lots of fuss among the audience and quickly became a fan favorite movie. The star-studded action movie turned into a successful franchise with parts 2 and 3 being released later in years.

The Expendables was even going toe-to-toe with giant franchises like Fast and Furious and Mission: Impossible for a couple of years. But all that fame seemed to fade away after they stopped producing new movies after the third part of the franchise.

So now, after almost a decade, Stallone, Statham, and others came back in The Expendables 4, only to bomb at the box office. As it turns out, the fact that the movie didn't stand a chance was pretty predictable from the beginning and here’s why.

1. Critical reception

The movie really suffered in major part due to its extremely poor reception among critics. It only scored 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that’s out of 84 reviews, which ultimately makes The Expendables 4 one of the worst-rated 2023 movies.

What are the reasons for such a low ranking? Well, there are many: dull plot, poor performances from the cast, and weak action sequences cluttered with low-quality CGI.

2. No advertising whatsoever

We genuinely believe that there might still be fans of the franchise that were not even aware that the new movie is coming out. That’s of course the consequences of the poor advertising of the movie.

According to Deadline, The Expendables 4 only had a $20 million advertising budget. With that in mind, it's very likely that the movie has flown completely under the radar for many casual moviegoers who might otherwise be interested in seeing it.

3. The movie’s late arrival

Since the third movie was released nine years ago, The Expendables 4 being released now simply makes no sense. If the crew wanted the movie to be successful and add something to the franchise, they shouldn't have waited so long to release chapter 4, assuming they had any intention of making a new movie at all.

However, there was still a way to make things work with the new movie. For example, to give the audience something new and extraordinary, to transcend what the franchise once was and deliver something different. Instead, The Expendables 4 went on and even broke the magic of the spectacle that once existed.

4. The cast changed for worse

It’s not fair to say that the newest movie didn’t at all have huge names in it, as The Expendables 4 still had Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren in it. The great additions to the cast were 50 Cent and Megan Fox. But still, it wasn't enough.

In a genre like this, it's crucial to have as many recognizable faces of Hollywood A-listers as possible. And the first movies in the franchise were more successful in that regard than the latest installment, as the big names like Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris weren't there in The Expendables 4.