The jury is still out on the otherwise confirmed fourth Expendables movie that will see just some of Hollywood’s mightiest action heroes reprising their roles from the trilogy, including Sylvester Stallone. In the meantime, there is at least one other title well on the way following last year’s reporting on Chinese co-production attachments to a sequel to the 2013 hit, Escape Plan, announced next to another installment of the Now You See Me franchise for Lionsgate.
Still in search of a director, Escape Plan 2, was last reported for a production start between a few weeks ago through March, although this week’s reporting from THR might suggest different. At any rate, new reports are confirming Stallone’s return to the role of Ray Breslin, a prison security expert who, in the first film, gets brutally duped into landing behind bars at a black site prison facility with a heavy-handed security system of his own design. Co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger is still in talks to reprise his role as well from the Mikael Håfström-directed thriller which took in $137 million dollars worldwide.
Emmett/Furla/Oasis and Beijing-based Leomus are partnering on the film to co-produce as well as co-finance. Randall Emmett and George Furla are producing with Leomus CEO Jie Qiu and Mark Canton, Zack Schiller and Robbie Brenner. Executive producing are Ted Fox, Mark Stewart, Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb with The Fyzz Facility’s Wayne Marc Godfrey and Robert Jones.