Action Franchises you can‘t get Enough of ? Die Hard 5, Lethal Weapon 5 & Expendables 2

Mel Gibson’s Hollywood career has certainly seen better days. The once worshipped actor has been involved in a torrent of accusations and bad publicity due to his outlandish remarks and his struggle with alcohol. And now being dropped from his talent agency, the 54 year old actor might be forced back into a franchise that made him a global superstar, another Lethal Weapon.


The opposite can be said for Bruce Willis who seems to go from strength to strength as an action icon, the now 55 year old actor wants to do a further two Die Hard movies, and not only adding further sequels to a still popular franchise but even announcing his involvement in the inevitable Expendables sequel.



The 411

Lethal Weapon 5

The last several years Mel Gibson has been the subject of endless bad media due to his battle with alcoholism and remarks of racism, homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism.
More recently, in July 2010, his argument over the phone with his former ex-girlfriend was recorded and made public which had him questioned on domestic abuse charges and subsequently dropped from his talent agency in Hollywood.
Now Gibson’s relying on current projects, The Beaver which is to be released later this year and Where I Spent My Summer Vacation (2011) to silence his critics and refocus on reinstating his Hollywood career.

If current projects fail to relight interest in the actor he might be looking at a return to a franchise that he’s most famous for, Lethal Weapon.
Lethal Weapon 5 has been rumoured on and off for years, and was set to go ahead until Mel Gibson declined to reprise the role as Martin Riggs. However WhatsPlaying.com reports a reliable tip off they received that Gibson is back in talks with Joel Silver (producer of the Lethal Weapon franchise) on a possible return. The gossip is also fuelled by the fact that Mel Gibson has been developing Cold Warrior with Shane Black who had pitched a successful idea on Lethal Weapon 5 to Warner Brothers. Could Shane Black have talked Mel round?

Danny Glover who plays Lieutenant Roger Murtaugh in the film series has given no real word on the proposed movie’s status although is said to be up for a further outing.
What’s for sure is that a return to the franchise could help Gibson financially as well as professionally. He was given $35 Million for the fourth Lethal Weapon, so would no doubt get more to return, and with his costly divorce and custody battle it must be a serious consideration.

A gay man myself, and not a particular fan of Gibson’s rants and raves, I have however remained a fan of his work, and weather or not the talented actor does return to the role of Martin Riggs, I hope he gets through his dark days, retains what many admire him for, his acting, and finally learn to silence his own lethal weapon, his mouth.


Die Hard 5

Bruce Willis has confirmed that he would like to do a further two more Die Hard Movies. Willis told MTV he was keen to reprise his role as John McClane. ‘It’s probably going to happen in 2011’ he said. He has also made no secret in many interviews that he would like the next instalment to go on an international scale.

He also told FHM 'I want to do Die Hard 5, then one final Die Hard movie - Die Hard 6 - before finally hanging that white vest up for good‘.
Live Free or Die Hard ( AKA Die Hard 4.0 ) had critics and movie fans rejoicing the fact that the 55 year old actor ‘still had it’, and even saying that it was the best sequel to the original in the Die Hard franchise.

Several rumours had been reported earlier this year about the fifth instalments possible premise, at one point Fox was contemplating a crossover which involved John McClane teaming up with CTU agent Jack Bauer (Keither Sutherland) of the hit program 24, tentatively titled Die Hard 24/7. This idea seems to have fizzled out into nothing however, and with the movie intending to start shooting early next year, maybe fan favourite Samuel L. Jackson might make a reappearance? What is for certain is it looks like we haven’t seen the end of our favourite lovable cop McClane, ‘Yippee-ki-yay’!


Expendables 2

As well as the announcement of a further Die Hard movie, Willis has also announced involvement with an Expendables sequel.

Willis made a brief cameo as Mr Church in Sly Stallone’s Expendables, one of this summers box office smash hit movies, and although has received mixed reviews which sway more to the negative side, one thing that many critics and action fans agreed on is that it was a huge guilty pleasure.

Willis whose cameo scene was shared with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone himself, has indicated that he will play a much bigger role in the sequel. He had this to say to comminsoon.net:

“I talked to Sly and he's going for all the marbles this time, and he's going to get everybody in this time,”. He continued: “Even Stone Cold Steve Austin who took two bullets in the last film, he's coming back, too. Hopefully, they'll start shooting it while we're young enough to survive.”

Stallone is set to bring many of the big players back including Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke and of course Bruce Willis. And it is now heavily rumoured that Arnold Schwarzenegger, who would have finished his time in office, will have more of a role too if Sly can get him.

Regardless of a non-existent storyline in Expendables, its already proven to be a financial success. Hopefully the sequel will follow more of a story as well as the explosive action that didn’t fall short in its predecessor.

Are you looking forward to any of these sequels? What are your opinions of Mel Gibson and the possibility of him returning to the Lethal Weapon Franchise? Do you think Bruce Willis can pull off a further two Die Hard Movies? Leave your comments below!