Avi Lerner has found a pretty successful formula with “The Expendables.” With two films grossing just under $600 million worldwide combined, and a third on the way, the recipe of old-people-doing-action-stuff has paid off well. But why just relegate the franchise to the dudes? You may have forgotten, but last year a female twist on the series was put into development called “ExpendaBelles” (GET IT?) and it seems it’s actually a thing that might happen.
Deadline is pointing to Bulgarian press reports that reveal producer Avi Lerner spilling that Meryl Streep, Cameron Diaz and Milla Jovovich are apparently in negotiations for the project. “Legally Blonde” writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith are writing the script, and while there are no plot details, you could probably make a pretty generalized guess as to what it might involve.
But don’t get too excited just yet. There’s no director on this thing, and we’d wager Streep won’t move for someone the caliber of “The Expendables 3” helmer Patrick Hughes (for example). And moreover, there’s a competing project from 1984 Private Defense Contractors that had Gina Carano and Katee Sackhoff attached last year, but that’s about the last we heard. So who will get this twist on the sub-action-genre going first? Does it matter?