How do you continue The Expendables franchise without Sylvester Stallone, the guy who created it to basically extend his career and those of his aging buddies? Basically, you shouldn't, but that's the future ahead because Sly has exited the fourth film in the franchise for the most surprising of reasons: quality. Has he been watching the same movies we have?
According to Deadline, Sly is turning down a huge pay day to leave the film due to disagreements with producer Avi Lerner about the direction of the movie, such as director, script, and the movie's quality, such as CGI effects. Apparently Sly has taken a new perspective on his career after his Oscar-nominated turn in Creed. He doesn't want to be linked to another franchise of diminishing returns. Call it a hunch, but something tells me the words "Escape Plan 2" have been running through his mind a lot lately.
There's always the chance Stallone and Lerner work things out. They've been working together a long time, and The Expendables is one of Stallone's pet projects. Without him who knows if it can continue, although they could easily just hand the reins over to Jason Statham, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Wesley Snipes, or Chuck Norris, or Mel Gibson, or...
