Opening in the same mid-August frame as the two previous films, Expendables 3 seems unlikely to hit the $28 million-plus debuts of either of its predecessors - but nor will it be significantly affected by the one million-plus downloads of a recently pirated version of the film either, leaving a sizable remainder to be made up from overseas territories and ancillary. With no higher purpose than generating cash and allowing for a few shared laughs among old buddies on repetitive assignments to take out tyrannical despots and nefarious arms dealers, the Expendables lack the dimensionality of enduring screen characters, despite the iconic roles many of these actors have played in other films. Or maybe not, considering the fairly flexible standards applied to the avowedly pulpy series thus far.Īlthough The Expendables 3 remains faithful to the series’ B-movie roots, what becomes increasingly clear is that the issue of franchise fatigue isn’t so much attributable to the initially inspired template that put highly recognizable, aging action stars back in the game as it is to increasingly formulaic plotlines. A franchise with half a billion dollars in global box office was inevitably going to spawn another sequel that’s no doubt widely anticipated by fans, who may be disappointed to discover that the law of diminishing returns is inexorably setting in with the third iteration.
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