MovieChat Forums > The Expendables 3 (2014) Discussion > if an Expendables had been made in 1995?

if an Expendables had been made in 1995?


Starring the Exp3 cast with the addition of B Willis, C Norris (pre 'Facts'), plus JCVD in the Lee Christmas role, and various 'non Expendable' guys like SSegal/CWeathers/KRussell/KReeves etc instead of Couture/Crews/Fraiser/Twilight kid etc....& old timers like Clint, Connery, Charlton Heston, Charles Bronson in brief cameos (very brief LOL cameos like Connery at the end of Robin Hood, Heston in True Lies/Waynes World)

so ideally the cast would've been -

main roles - Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, JCVD, MGibson
supporting - Lungren, Snipes, Norris, Segal, Weathers, Russell, Reeves, Swayze, Biehn, Paxton, Glover, Busey, Davi, Dalton etc (obviously not all of those guys would've been in it)
cameos - Ford, Clint, Connery, Heston, Bronson
women - maybe Demi Moore or Sharon Stone, & Pam Anderson (Lee Christmas' gfriend)

director - John McTiernan or Renny Harlin or Sly himself.

rating - R

itd have just been the one film (no sequels) - a one off event

How much box office?

wkend/domestic/fore

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Listen I love Sly, but the truth has to said, by 1995 audiences were not paying to watch his movies like they
used to back in the 80s. He had a comeback period with Cliffhanger-Demolition Man-The Specialist,
but after those three releases his movies kept the downward trend they had been displaying since the late 80s.

Still having all of these names involved in the same project by the mid 90s would have attracted a larger audience
than the movie released in 2009.

They should probably have given Mel Gibson a more prominent role because out of the entire cast by the mid 90s
he was the biggest box office draw, he was at the peak of his career, plus 1995 had the best year of his entire career
with Braveheart being a box office and critical success.

Worldwide in 1995 I say The Expendables would have grossed between 450-600 million.

At this stage, John McTiernan was a better action director than Harlin and Sly put together so he would
have delivered a very good competent film (superior to the 2009 film).

But the man who should have directed this film in 1995 is JAMES CAMERON.

2009 Expendables grossed 275M WW.
1991 Terminator 2 grossed 520M WW.
1996 Mission: Impossible grossed 457M WW.
1989 Batman grossed 411M WW.
1994 True Lies grossed 379M WW.
1995 Die Hard 3 grossed 366M WW.
1995 Goldeneye grossed 352M WW.

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yes it basically would've been what The Avengers was in 2012 or Endgame in 2019 but in 95..like a culmination of all the action movies/heroes

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I think you're cutting the film short off at the knees. Expendables 2 was a much bigger film than Expendables 1, in terms of box office, and a lot of that was thanks to Arnold and Willis having larger roles, plus a large focus of the marketing material including Van Damme (even going as far as to include his iconic butterfly kick in the promo material).


If Expendables 2 did $314 million, then -- back in 1995 and with the same cast -- it absolutely could have topped out close to $500 million - $700 million with the right director and marketing promotion.

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Gibson would be in the Statham role, how I would have seen it.

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