Sylvester Stallone Is Finished With The Expendables Series - Report

Last year, it was reported that a fourth entry in the action series Expendables was on the way with Sylvester Stallone yet again starring. That no longer seems to be the case.

According to Deadline, Stallone is bowing out of the franchise that he helped create. The site reports that he and production company Nu Image/Millenium boss Avi Lerner could not agree on several key elements of The Expendables 4, including a director, a script, and "certain qualitative elements," including which CGI studio would do the effects work.

Deadline reports that Stallone backed away despite the potential of earning an upfront payday of $20 million or more, the biggest of his career. Stallone directed the first Expendables and co-wrote the two sequels.

Speaking to Deadline, Lerner acknowledged "disagreements" with Stallone, but said he's hopeful that The Expendables 4 will happen.

"We've got disagreements with Sly, but we've had them for over a year and a half," he said. "Right now, each one has an opinion. We agreed on 95% of things, but there are certain things in production we don't agree on. I don't think it’s over, but write whatever you want. In my opinion, it's not dead."

The first Expendables was released in 2010, and made $315 million at the worldwide box office. While the next two parts weren't as big, they still made $274 million and $214 million respectively.

In 2014, Stallone was critical of the decision to release Expendables 3 with a PG-13 rating rather than the R that the previous movies had carried.

"Absolutely unequivocally yes," he told Crave Online when asked if the lower rating was a mistake. "I believe it was a horrible miscalculation on everyone's part in trying to reach a wider audience, but in doing such, diminish the violence that the audience expects. I'm quite certain it won't happen again."

The various entries in the Expendables series have featured big-name actors such as Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lungren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mel Gibson, Terry Crews, Jet Li, and Wesley Snipes, in addition to Stallone.