Giants On Set

Bruce Willis and the EX3 rumor!

Call this the Bruce Willis rumor...

A trusted gentleman who can be found on the amazing site known as StalloneZone reported something he heard from someone he trusts. Lets just call it a rumor. Well I reached out to Moviehole to see if they could dig a little deeper and this is what they had to say:

"Old friend of the site, and also a big supporter of everything action-movie, ABKing just shot us an email to say that, despite the kerfuffle, Bruce Willis is cameoing in “Expendables 3″ after all; apparently someone said somewhere that someone’s spotted the “Die Hard” actor on set.. or something. There’s no solid evidence backing the claim, so I’m just going to have to be big bad wolf here and blow that one down. Sorry! I find it hard to believe that Willis, particularly after Stallone’s comments, would make buddies with the “Expendables” star and agree to appear in the movie after all. But also, I’ve just done a google and Willis has been spotted around LA this week -and last time I checked LA wasn’t anywhere near Bulgaria. I’ll have Clint look into this one himself, but I personally don’t see it happening – not after the bad blood that’s seemingly been spilt between Sly and Bruce in recent weeks, but also, they’ve got Harrison Ford now.. wasn’t that the whole point of bringing in Ford? To replace Willis? So… end of story. I’m afraid it’s unlikely we’ll see John McClane and Rambo gunning side-by-side again.. not anytime soon, anyway."

A rumor or just a misunderstanding? Either way it sure is interesting!

Where is Jet Li?

Not in Bulgaria apparently, but at home cooking dinner in a wok, in this Facebook picture he posted. No hurry, Jet......

F&F & EX Franchises In Official Cast Competition

The F&F Franchise has officially entered into competition with the EX franchise. After hiring Ronda Rousey and Tony Jaa for their 7th installment, F&F is about to hire the beloved action star Kurt Russell that so many action fans wanted for EX3. 

Variery reports that they have no description on who Russell would be playing, but sources say it is the role that Uni originally offered to Denzel Washington — clearly showing its importance to the films story.

Is this becoming a war of "who's got the best cast" of action stars between the 2 franchises?! The EX franchise has definitely done better so far but F&F is catching up. Hopefully an EX4 to completely knock F&F out.

Kick-Ass Arnold Photo!

Incredible!

Arnold had a dozen suitcases says Bulgarian news outlet!

Google Translation: "I'm glad I'm back here and thank you for your hospitality," said a welcoming its media Arnold Schwarzenegger at the beginning of his second visit here.

Another of invincible and immortal even in film, arrived in the country for the filming of "Expendables 3." The once unstoppable Terminator, Commando and Agent landed at Sofia Airport shortly after 15 pm and soon appeared on the outcome of the VIP lounge smiling in the company of producer Avi Lerner.

Thinner (from muscles) and grow in size (waist), Schwarzenegger arrived in jeans, a blue shirt, dyed red hair and two silver jewelry on his right hand - a massive American flag bracelet and a ring with a skull.

Actor (politician) was polite and gave autographs to a few willing, find time to answer the question is there already a favorite: "Yes, the studio! Unfortunately, we have no time to look at the country as usually work until 1 o'clock at night. But I'm glad that we would enjoy a lovely meal and your hospitality. "Then Arnold's dozen suitcases and Avi Lerner drove a jeep to four Boyana.

Schwarzenegger returns to the role of professional mercenary Trench, who has jokingly rivalry with his colleague Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone). The character appeared briefly in the first film from 2010 in "The Expendables 2" Arnold had a lot more screen time, and the third ... will find in the middle of August 2014.

Does this mean he will stay for a longer time? One can only hope so...

EX3 Will Open Huge Next August

Following Andrew's post, I see no reason as to why EX3 won't open to huge business on August 15, 2014. It currently is the only major film slated to open on that date. There may a smaller film added at some point, but no blockbuster competition. The week before, The Hundred-Foot Journey and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles open. TMNT may open solid, but that is a different age bracket. The week after, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For opens. The first Sin City opened to $29 Million, so the sequel could cut into EX3 numbers a bit.

EX1 opened with $34 Million, while EX2 opened with $28 Million. With the unbelievable cast they got, EX3 should open at least $35 Million, hopefully even $40 Million. If we want an EX4, we need it to hit well over $300 Million worldwide. And I think it will. Too much talent involved for it not to.

Patrick Hughes is new, but Red Hill is a great little flick. Stallone will guide him, as always, to get his vision on screen. Peter Menzies, Jr. is their DP. He has shot films such as Shooter, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and the Incredible Hulk. Don Bradley is their Second Unit Director. He is one of the best in the business....and they are lucky to have him. He has worked films such as the last 3 Bourne movies, Quantum of Somace, M:I-Ghost Protocol, and many others.

Don't forget the great cast additions. Harrison Ford....Mel Gibson.....who ever thought you would get both of those guys in an EX movie? Plus Banderas, Snipes, Schwarzenegger, and whoever pops up.

EX3 is gonna be epic! It opens in 50 short weeks from today.

This LABOR DAY WEEKEND last year EX2 in TOP 5!

After holding the #1 position for two weekends in a row (28 million on the first weekend and 13 million on the second weekend) EX2 fell to #3 with a still solid 11 million. I expect EX3 to dominate the box-office two weekends in a row the way THE EXPENDABLES and THE EXPENDABLES 2 did! Now bring on "THE MOTHER OF ALL ACTION MOVIES" with THE EXPENDABLES 3!

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following GURU on Twitter.

LAST YEAR Fright fans powered the horror film The Possession into the top spot with a solid four-day holiday launch of $21.1M - the second best in history for the Labor Day frame. The action entry Lawless debuted in second place with a mild $12.9M over four days. Final grosses for the new films were $49.1M for Lionsgate and $37.4M for The Weinstein Co. Holdovers rounded out the top five with The Expendables 2 making $11.5M, rival action sequel The Bourne Legacy taking $9.3M and toon hit ParaNorman collecting $9M.

3 More Arnold pics

Arnold has landed and ready for action!

Arnold is now in Bulgaria and was greeted at the airport by EX3 honcho Avi Lerner. More pics as they come in.

Rousey Ready to Rumble

Ronda Rousey posted a couple pictures to her Instagram page. The first is her with the E3 stunt team. The second is just her chair. Hopefully Ronda can act. Lastly is a new set pic leaked to Twitter.

Where is Gibson?

Apparently, still not in Bulgaria. We are all awaiting his arrival, but until then, check out these pictures of him partying in Mexico....hope he is staying off the sauce.

The Jessica Theory (Possible Spoiler)

Jessica is a hardcore fan of the Expendables Franchise and a loyal reader of EXBlog. We are dedicating this article to her theory of EX3's plot:

"Hello to all fans of The Expendables Movie Franchise,

The main points will be Terry Crew’s character (Caesar), question about scenes, and the infamous “call time sheet”

First off, we kind of all have an idea from instagram, tweets by Crews, and the call sheet that Hale Caesar probably goes out in a blaze of glory in this next installment. Which I am sad to see happen, we may not know when it happens in the movie, and that may be the shocker.

There was a question I found interesting; it had to do with a discussion about scenes. I have worked as an extra on a TV series, and know others who have worked on movies. The scenes do go in order from Scene 1 to whenever the last scene is. A little known fact is that smaller budget movies have an average of 150 scenes total; whereas, the larger budget movies on average have from 150 to 230 maybe 235 total scenes.

So, heading toward the call sheet that we saw a glimpse of. Yes, I do agree 100% that Anonymous was right in saying in scene 151 pt 1 “Barney asks the (probably the older Expendables) team to help him and they decline. However in my opinion, I do not think that means they will not be in the movie anymore…I think they will do like they have done in the first two movies and cover and help Barney when needed. There are a lot of facts to support this…

In the synopsis, it says that Barney recruits new Expendables to throw Conrad off, and that the new and old Expendables get off of a rocky start. Plus, there have been several tweets by Rousey, Ortiz, Lundgren, and Couture before filming even started saying how much fun it will be to work with each other. Do I know this for 100%? No, but it wouldn’t be an Expendables movie without some of the main Expendables in it until the end.

Lastly, the brief peek of scene 231 pt 1 goes along with my theory. I truly believe it will be near the end if not one of the end scenes in this movie. It said Barney and his crew toast to remember Caesar. Along with knife throwing competition, new expendables tattoos…and I am going to save the last bit for the end of this article…I don’t think it would be just him and the “younger” Expendables toasting to Caesar because they would have not known him well enough to do the toast without the old crew. Also, there were sighting of Couture, Rousey, and Lutz getting prepped for a “bar scene” the other day.

Here is the last bit of juicy facts we learned from Scene 231 pt1. It said, “Barney is a proud PAPA!” Now it could be taken two ways in my point of view, either he is proud the new blood of Expendables and feels like a dad to them….OR… One of the “young bloods” could be his son or daughter he never knew about… I am taking a guess at maybe LUNA (Ronda Rousey’s character) could be his daughter since they said she has a sizeable role…. But that is just my guess…

So please, send me your guesses, thoughts, and opinions. Please be nice this is the first article/blog I ever wrote and I am SOOOO nervous.

But most of all enjoy this journey on the wild Expendables 3 ride."

Arnold Set To Arrive Finally

According to this small article, Arnold is set to arrive in Bulgaria finally. We all thought he was already on set, but he was never seen at the airport arriving. We know they have been filming around him, using a photo double as a stand in.

The translation is:

 "Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography will be released in Bulgarian in October, reported "Novinar" by publishing "Hermes". It is titled "Total Recall", just like the movie, which Arnie became famous.

The actor, who is about to land in the country for the filming of "Expendables 3" decided to stand out as a writer after the dramatic turns in his personal life."

Also, we have a fantastic fan-made video made by Mike Frenchy. His own Expendables 3 teaser.

Check it out.....

EX3 Call Sheet

This morning we have an EX3 call sheet that was leaked. You can see all the character names, plus descriptions of several scenes, props, etc. Read at your own risk. Thanks to Trevor at Expendable Premiere for sharing!

 

 

****We have been asked to remove the call sheet. Someone at Lionsgate is very unhappy.......

 

 

Sly's Stunt Double

According to a Bulgarian article this guy is Sly's stunt double for extreme action scenes! You can read a rough translation of the article here.

Ford's First Photo on Set of EX3!

Here we go the highly awaited Ford showing up on the set of EX3. All pumped to see him, oh YEAH!

2 Dolph Lundgren Pics

Hello EX3 fans!

We have two new Dolph Lundgren pics, right from his personal Facebook page....

Arnold, Ford and Mel: "they will be like nothing seen before in a Hollywood action movie."

Harrison Ford is already in Bulgaria and Arnold was to arrive by the end of last week....even according to this report. Or has Arnold arrived? Humm, if he has then how did he sneak through the Bulgarian airport without us getting pictures. The same with Mel Gibson...stay tuned! A new week should bring us new behind-the-scenes pics. And by the way, the piece linked states that Arnold, Ford and Mel "they will be like nothing seen before in a Hollywood action movie."

The Crews Theory - Possible Spoiler

Lots of speculation on Crews since some on-set photos of him have shown up making some people believe that Hale Caesar will not make it. I have my own theory on the subject based on the following hypotheses:

1-The photos speak for themselves specially the one where he has a bullet in his chest.

2-He was seen in an interview (2nd interview in the link) hinting at the lack of room for 2 African-American lead roles in the franchise with the addition of Snipes. Plus we know that Snipes is an Expendable member in EX3 who was initially supposed to be cast in the franchise from the get go but his role went to Crews due to his jail sentence.

3-I know an African-American actress who auditioned for a role in EX3 similar to the one played as Billy's girlfriend in EX2.

This is a theory so please take it as such and draw your own conclusions.      

A Few Words About Our Content

Jeff here,

I wanted to apologize about the recent confusion over the silly EX3 teaser poster I made. It was never intended to be taken seriously. In the comments section, I even said, jokingly, that Lionsgate sent it to me. I never thought anyone would believe it. The earlier poster I made about a week ago, was also assumed to be official. That one I did say I created. Somehow it ended up on the EX3 Wikipedia page. I certainly didn't send them that.

Consider any EX3 posters we post to be fan-made, just for fun. We will always label an official one as just that - official. I enjoy seeing the fan-made posters, just like many of you. In fact, we'll post them here, if anyone wishes to send them to us.

Another topic is about rumors. We don't create EX3 rumors out of thin air. They come from sources close to the production. Sometimes from the Bulgarian media. Either way, we always address them as rumors......to be taken with a grain of salt. We all want to see Chan and Rourke in the movie, and both have been rumored to be in cameos. Maybe true, maybe false. But we just report what we hear.

Again, my apologies about the teaser poster. I didn't mean to mislead people. Just wanted to have some fun. And more will probably surface.....and will be noted as fan-made. Thanks for your time.

New Video of EX3 Filming at Varna

This site has posted video of EX3 fliming at the Naval Station in Varna. It isn't the best quality, but you can see the huge scope of the production.

Also, another article had this to say, translated poorly, of course:

World famous actors Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford walked into our Military Academy (MMA). But not as patients, but to capture successive scenes from the movie "The Expendables 3". It reported "Trud" happy witnesses ended up by chance the exciting photos.

Around 11 am on Monday the rear entrance of the MMA had already acquired the American type. The film crew had set shady palm trees within a radius of a few meters, simulating overseas environment and the porch of the local hospital. "Suddenly appeared shiny black limousine as a typical US ambulance with blue inscriptions taken from the cinema center in" Boyana ", said patients. Minutes later, glowing and Hollywood stars - Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford.

In one of the short breaks when cast down gene. Stoyan Tonev, head of the Military Medical Academy. They shook hands with Stallone and Stallone thanked him for "field" with the words "Tenko Yu, General."

Details only read in the paper edition of "Trud"

Statham Nearly Died On Expendables Set!

According to skandalno.net Statham nearly lost his life last saturday on the Expendables set!

Straight from google translator:

"Hollywood movie star Jason Statham off close to death and survived only thanks to the rapid intervention team "Emergency." 

The incident broke out last Saturday, when the actor to take on the implementation of a dangerous action scene from "The Expendables 3" and flatly refused to engage a professional stuntman. 

The shocking incident occurred at pictures in a pond. Then stunt was ready, but Jason Statham said that number is not so hard and do everything yourself. The fall in the water something goes wrong and he never managed to emerge.

The set get into real horror and a few more - brave jumped into the water to save him. Luckily managed to find it and remove relatively quickly, but Jason Statham unconscious and showed no signs of life. The ambulance arrived very quickly and took him to the hospital. 

Doctors successfully decent action hero and after several hours at the hospital determined that there is no danger to his life. Statham on his return behaved male and immediately resumed work without complaining and spares. "Thanks to God survived and continue to work," was the brief comment of the star mallow incident."

Thank god for the quick reaction of the crew and that he survived it unharmed. It shows once more how dangerous the stunts are, that we take for granted on the big screen; Even for a former olympic diver and stunt-veteran like Statham.

Panther Helicopter In Expendables

The helicopter featured in the Expendables 3(and seen in several pictures from the set) was rented from the bulgarian Navy and Moreto.net learnt of the conditions to rent it.

The production company rented the Panther transport helicopter for more than 9900 lev(around $6770) for every flight hour. On top of that the production company has to pay charges to the Varna airport, cost of fuel and supplies for the helicopter and crew and takes on insurance liability for the helicopter and crew.

They filmed scenes with the helicopter until yesterday(sunday) in the port of Varna.
Today filming will continue in the studios of Nu Image Bulgaria.

August 2014 Can't Get Here Soon Enough!

Great New Location Pics

Fresh in are 4 new location pictures from the Facebook page of Leo Camplone. This is the building that the Expandables have an epic battle with the Somali pirates. Looks like a war zone.

Filming Will Be in Bulgaria Only

We have word from a source in Bulgaria working on set that filming will only be in Bulgaria and no other location is in the plans. At the end of the 10 weeks in Bulgaria it's pretty much a wrap!

Filming To Continue On Tuesday In Sofia

Interesni.biz gives us an update on Statham's facebook and the filming schedule for next week (translated beautifully by google again):

"Jason Statham, who a few days filming in Bulgaria in the company of Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, boasted on Facebook with the frame of the "Expendables 3." Photo gathered nearly 130,000 likes in an hour, and it was discussed almost 2,500 times. The official website of the star of "Transporter" has 7,176,094 fans who will be rooting news about your pet during filming in Bulgaria.

Statham is already in Sofia is expected today, the stars of "The Expendables 3" to join him. Work will start in Sofia on Tuesday and save Boyana Cinema Center image will walking in the vicinity of the city. Surely the stars filmed scenes of the action in "Kremikovci." Bulgaria already have Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren and Terry Crews. Expected soon for them to join Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Jackie Chan and Jet Li."

It's very likely that the actors will use the "free time" to either film at locations we are not aware of or to learn fight choreography for next week. 

We know Rousey and Ortiz are in Bulgaria now, Rourke is said to be in Bulgaria already (even though nobody has seen a picture of him yet) and Schwarzenegger should show up soon too, according to Bulgarian news. 

With everyone in, or on their way to, Bulgaria, I suspect they will film the big finale next week in Sofia.

Hopefully the set in Sofia is as sneak peek friendly as the set in Varna and we can show you more pictures next week!

New EX3 behind-the-scenes Pic

Looks like some Somalian bad guys getting ready to be BBQ.

Also, Randy Couture just Tweeted, "thanks its going great and a crazy good very interesting cast ! Some nice twists in this one !"

New Sly Pics

We have a couple of new Sly pics. He looks great!

More Set Photos.....

Great stuff!

Ronda and Victor in Bulgaria

 
Thanks to Instagram. Ronda and Victor are in Bulgaria and they are getting ready for some action!

"Judo dojos have Kano on the wall, bjj clubs have Helio... Lionsdale mma gym has Fedor!! Great training today with some super cool Bulgarian wrestlers and @itsvortiz :) now I'm off to get fitted for #expendables3 wardrobe...."

More photos of Ford at airport

More Pics of Harrison Ford arriving...enjoy.

ComingSoon Poll results are in! Expendables fans are excited!!!

ComingSoon put up one of their polls last week asking "Which Summer 2014 Release Are You Looking Forward To The Most?" The results are as followed:

The Expendables 3 34.0%  X-Men: Days of Future Past 23.0% Guardians of the Galaxy 6.9% Godzilla 6.6% Transformers 4 4.8% The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4.6% Fast & Furious 7 4.5% Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 3.4% Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.6% Sin City: A Dame to Kill For 2.2% Fifty Shades of Grey 1.8% How to Train Your Dragon 2 1.4% 22 Jump Street 1.2% The Good Dinosaur 0.7% Maleficent 0.7% Edge of Tomorrow 0.6% Jupiter Ascending 0.6% Hercules 0.5%

The EXPENDABLES fans have spoken!

EX3 Full Cast About To Assemble

 

 

Well the time is finally here! Gibson, Ford, Schwarzenegger, everyone will be finally shooting together next week. Hopefully Li will be on set also. It is truly amazing that Sly got this incredible cast together. Who would have ever thought that Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford would agree to be in an Expandable movie?

 

I do believe Rourke is in Bulgaria as well. Not only did the local media there spot him, they described the car he was in as well. My hunch is that he gets killed in a mission by Conrad Stonebanks, a very bad-ass villain. Word is Chan is making a secret cameo as well. But would it really be that secret? Sly Tweeted that Chan was in many months ago, but he was never listed on the official cast list. Time will tell....

 

The best parts of the movie will get filmed in the next week or 2. The big battle scenes, since they have everyone together. We know Statham has to leave in mid-September for Fast Seven. I'll be curious to see how much screen time he ends up with and how his absence is explained.

 

We all saw many photos leaked this week, many more than when EX2 was filming. It looks like the team is dressed in Somalian gear taking on Somalian bad guys (it appears). Everyone was bloody, especially Crews, who was being helped after being injured. Does he die? Can't really tell, but I like the fact that the team is really in danger, not just mowing down the bad guys. Snipes is with the good guys, which is surprising. I expected him to be a Simon Phoenix-type of bad guy, possibly Gibson's top bad guy/henchman. Maybe he turns on the team? So hard to tell. We don't know if the scene being shot was the open of the movie, or possibly a flashback?

 

Antonio Banderas? We have absolutely no idea who he is playing and what side he is on. I think he is on Gibson's side, but who knows.

 

And what about Harrison Ford's character? Is he a slimy CIA-type, like Church was? Or is he actually on Gibson's side? Robert Davi is also in EX3, saying he shoots his scenes with Gibson, so I assume he is bad. Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz Glen Powell are all headed over. Not too sure what there exact roles are. I believe they are the "new blood" that Sly talked about. Young and tech-savvy, I think they are supposed to be on Sly's team at some point. A little confused on this. Anyway, IMDB has character names for them. Rousey is "Luna", Ortiz is "Mars", and Powell is "Thorn/Wifi". Interesting names, if true.

 

 

Anyway, we will have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks and months ahead. So stay tuned here, your #1 source for Expendables 3 news!

Photos of Ford Arriving in Bulgaria

A few photos of Ford have been published on a Bulgarian website while he was arriving at the airport in Sofia. The website also reports the following (Google Translation):

"Sofia. Hollywood star Harrison Ford landed at Sofia airport. Just 22, 40 hours, he arrived on a flight from Munich to "Lufthansa." Actor first came to Bulgaria to participate in the filming of the action thriller "The Expendables 3". Was greeted by Les Weldon, one of the producers of the production.

The star appeared visibly tired at the airport, but it was elegant as always, wearing a jacket and shirt. It seemed almost as fans remember him from memorable films, "Indiana Jones" and "The Fugitive." All he issued his age, had his grizzled hair.

Ford, who was traveling alone, without bodyguards, came up with a suitcase. Answered with "no", "do not know" and "I'm here to do my job" to journalists' questions. Did not and give autographs if his fans were not pressed. Scoring twice and took off with a shiny Audi to Grand Hotel Sofia, where he will be housed in a sleek apartment.Harrison joined in the final stages of negotiations on the casting of "The Expendables 3." His role in the action is not yet clear."

Harrison Ford Is Now in Bulgaria

Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford is now in Bulgaria. This link confirms his arrival. Translation is:

"Hollywood star Harrison Ford landed at Sofia airport. He first came to Bulgaria to participate in the filming of the action thriller "The Expendables 3".

Guards monitor the security of the actor on his arrival at the airport. To meet him came a few fans.

Ford will stay in a luxury apartment in an elite metropolitan hotel. The same are housed and stars Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, who filmed several scenes from the film in Varna.

In the days of the Bulgarian land will step even Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Banderas, and Mel Gibson. Filming of "Expendables 3" will last three months and a team of 100 Bulgarian prepare unique stunt scenes action.

Until now filming "The Expendables 3" is the biggest production that was shot here."

Expect exclusive footage of the arrival of Harrison Ford in Sofia!