Weekend Box Office (08/19/12) - The Expendables 2 tops while ParaNorman and Sparkle mostly shine.

It's no real surprise that The Expendables 2 (review/trailer) opened with about 18% less this weekend ($28.75 million) than the first Expendables on this weekend in 2010 ($34 million).  The Expendables (review) was a culmination of a good twenty years of 'what-if' anticipation.  And while the final result was a little lacking, in that it was barely a good movie and most of the biggest action icons were either absent or had cameos, it was still enough of a wish-fulfillment fantasy to be a massive worldwide hit ($274 million on a $80 million budget).  Two years later, the sequel delivers on both the action front (lots more of it) and the A-level casting arena (Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have expanded roles while Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme came to play) but that initial high is somewhat gone.  Still, a $28 million debut, especially from Lionsgate, is nothing to sneeze at. This will still be their largest non-Saw/Tyler Perry opening outside of The Expendables and The Hunger Games and their tenth-biggest debut ever.  Not only have we seen a pattern of lower opening weekends and domestic totals for sequels, but this is easily the kind of property that could have elicited a giant 'no one cares anymore' reaction after the somewhat underwhelming first film (I seem to be among the few who likes it).

Review: The Expendables 2 (2012) - tastes great, less filling.

The Expendables 2

2012
103 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

The good news is that The Expendables 2 is that it gives you more of what you wanted the first time around.  There is a greater volume of action and the film has even more A-list action stars offering their services this time around.  The picture is rarely dull and often amusing, but at what cost?  The film barely tries to pretend that it exists as an actual motion picture, with the various onscreen tough guys openly referencing their iconic roles or real-life biographies in a manner that takes you out of the movie each time.  The first picture may have been light on the A-level firepower, but it attempted to be a real film with an actual story and token attempts at depth.  The original Expendables (barely) worked as a metaphor for a modern America that could still do the right thing for the right reasons in a manner honoring its alleged superior morality.  This new film has 'more of what you came to see' but is paper thin without a hint of substance or even dramatic credibility.  Comparing the two films is a classic example of 'trying and (perhaps) failing' versus 'failing to try'.  

Once again, Garrison Dean fashions a terrific fanmade Expendables trailer, this time with a 'Made in the USA' Expendables II preview.

I happen to think that the New York Times article that is used as the basis for this wonderful fan trailer is full of crap (cough-Fast Five, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol-cough), but I still laughed my ass off at this pretty much the entire running time.  And yes, just like two years ago, this Garrison Dean trailer is superior to the official Lionsgate one, although the official Expendables II trailer is indeed a better piece of work than the official Expendables trailer from summer 2010.  Just enjoy this thing and wonder why Mr. Dean hasn't gotten a job from any of the trailer houses yet.  I'm sure he would have had some choice words about the John Carter campaign.

Scott Mendelson

The Expendables 2 trailer looks fun, but will a slumming Schwarzenegger sink the movie?

This looks like more of the same, which is just fine by me.  The first film was just a little better than I expected, offering a fantasy of American warriors who could save the day with no collateral damage and with their morality intact by the time the credits rolled.  This one of course brings a bunch of new cast members, although my biggest fear is that Arnold Schwarzenegger may sink the whole thing.  His cameo in the first film was the worst scene of the picture, as he was basically refusing to take it seriously while Stallone and Willis respectively played it straight.  His performance here seems to be approaching Batman & Robin-level camp, which could prove fatal depending on how much screentime he has.  The rest of the gang looks fine, and considering Jean-Claude Van Damme's best pure-action film over the last 15 years involved him playing a villain (and that villain's clone... rent Replicant), it's so surprise that he seems to be having fun playing the super-villain this time around.  Anyway, this won't reinvent the wheel, but that's kind of the point.  The Expendables 2 looks like pretty solid B-movie action trash, and that's more-than-enough for me.  It drops August 17th.  As always, we'll see.  Thanks to IGN for the 'get'.

Scott Mendelson  

Please enjoy these 12 character posters from The Expendables 2.

Lionsgate sent these straight to me, a day late per usual.  Actually, I'm not complaining because it means I don't have to track down where each poster debuted yesterday and give each site credit.  That it's the right thing to do doesn't make it less of a pain.  Anyway, enjoy these twelve character posters from The Expendables 2 after the jump.  Coming this August from Lionsgate, featuring as much R-rated violence and gore as post-production CGI can bring you.  Can you guess which of the twelve distinctly looks like he could most-certainly *not* kick your ass?  Well, no besides Chuck Norris...

Scott Mendelson

Chuck Norris is not the cause, merely an alibi. The irony of a PG-13 Expendables II.

This story broke yesterday (I first read it yesterday morning at Collider), but since it was based on a translation of an interview that actor Chuck Norris gave to a Polish magazine, I thought I'd wait to make sure it wasn't a mistranslation.  But Sylvester Stallone has confirmed to Ain't It Cool News that The Expendables II will indeed be PG-13, although his explanation doesn't specifically blame Mr. Norris.  To wit, here, translated into English, is the 'offending' portion of Chuck Norris's interview:

"In Expendables 2, there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay. For this reason, many young people wouldn’t be able to watch this. But I don’t play in movies like this,” Norris explained. “Due to that I said I won’t be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be classified in the category of PG-13."

And here is Sly Stallone's confirmation:

"Harry (Knowles), the film is fantastic with Van Damme turning in an inspired performance... Our final battle is one for the ages. The PG13 rumor is true, but before your readers pass judgement, trust me when I say this film is LARGE in every way and delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions which we want to share with the broadest audience possible, BUT, fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry..."

What is strange about this is not that Stallone and his band of 80s and 2000s action stars are catering to the whims of one very over-the-hill action icon, or that Norris thinks that hearing profanity is more harmful to youngsters than watching over-the-top violence (in a pre-Sopranos/24 era, Walker: Texas Ranger was once considered the most violent show on television).  No what's strange is that the first Expendables, judging on the theatrical cut, was clearly intended to be a PG-13 in the first place.  Watching the film back in August 2010, I distinctly remember thinking that this was an awfully soft R, and that up until a certain third-act action sequence involving Stallone with a knife, it appeared that there wasn't going to be all that much R-rated violence at all.  Stallone and company waffled back and forth prior to the film's release about its rating, and I am still convinced to this day that it was always intended to be a PG-13 movie.

The Expendables II gets a teaser, which indeed teases.

This is obviously a teaser, and once again I'm almost tempted to say that Lionsgate should just stop there, since anyone who doesn't want to see this picture probably won't be persuaded by seeing various samples of the various action sequences. Anyway, the important glimpses are of course right at the end, when we get to see Schwarzenegger and Willis engaged in actual combat. The Expendables II opens August 12th. As always, we'll see...

Scott Mendelson