Never ever did I expect to type a headline like that. Early on a sunny Sunday morning in Cannes in the glorious south of France, the cast of THE EXPENDABLES 3 rolled into town to promote the third film in the epic series. Arnold Schwarzenegger was seen chomping on a cigar, and Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Randy Couture, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Mel Gibson, and Harrison Ford, taking time out from his STAR WARS EPISODE VII shooting schedule, travelled down the croisette in a fleet of tanks to the loud screams of hundreds of screaming fans.
The team then took to The Carlton Hotel to take part in the ultimate press conference, along with their director, RED HILL helmer Patrick Hughes, who takes the reigns on the third movie.
We’ve got a few images from this very surreal day, plus a video of the event, which you can see below. We’re hearing good things from the footage screenings down there in France, so we have high-hopes for this action-sequel, which will be with us in August.
In THE EXPENDABLES 3, Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill… or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables — but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables’ most personal battle yet.
In additional news, we’re hearing from the press conference that Stallone confirmed that the film will be a PG-13 in the US (12A in the UK), following the harder ‘R’ cuts of the first two movies.
“We want to reach as many people as possible… I think we owe it to the next generation.” He is quoted by Collider as saying at the A-list packed call. “We want to reach as many people as possible. It’s very close to an R, believe me, it’s right there. But I think we owe it to the next generation. We thought we’d join that club for a while.”
For a while? Does that allude to the fact that there may be more movies in the series? Guess that depends on the box-office.
THE EXPENDABLES 3 opens in the UK on the 14th August, and the US a day later of the 15th.
