In a seismic deal for indie action fans, Lionsgate has secured a wide-ranging rights deal with Millennium Media for two of Millennium’s most valuable action franchises: Rambo and The Expendables.
Under the agreement announced on Monday, Lionsgate will take global distribution rights to Rambo prequel John Rambo, the planned sixth installment in the Rambo franchise, as well as a lead producing role on any future Rambo television titles. The mini-major also secured the rights to develop and produce all future derivative works based on The Expendables franchise, including potential film and television projects, video games and immersive experiences (the mind boggles).
Lionsgate is launching international sales on John Rambo at the American Film Market in Los Angeles next week. Finnish director Jalmari Helander (Sisu) is set to direct the prequel with Noah Centineo (Black Adam, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) in final negotiations to star in the role made famous by Sylvester Stallone in the 1980s. Production is expected to begin in Thailand next year.
Lionsgate was the distributor of all of the Expendables films in North America and the U.K., and handled the release of the fourth and fifth Rambo movies in North America, as well as the first three installments in the franchise across Latin America and Southeast Asia.
“This deal expands Lionsgate’s portfolio of genre-defining action franchises and reinforces our commitment to delivering world-class IP across multiple platforms,” said Lionsgate COO Brian Goldsmith in a statement. Jonathan Yunger, president of Millennium Media, called the agreement “a partnership that gives these franchises the scale, creative support, and global reach they deserve.”
The transaction represents a significant strategic realignment for Millennium Media, which built its reputation — and much of its revenue base — on action-driven, mid-budget franchises including The Expendables, Rambo, and Olympus Has Fallen. Founded in 1992 by Avi Lerner as Nu Image, the company is one of the last major independent production outfits still financing and producing large-scale, star-driven genre films outside the studio system.
But Millennium has faced mounting competition and consolidation pressures as major studios and streamers have absorbed much of the global action market, and theatrical returns for old-school action movies have become less reliable. Expendables 4, released in 2023, debuted with a franchise low of $8.3 million in North America and limped to a global haul of under $40 million. Rambo: Last Blood (2019) is the only Rambo film not to gross more than $100 million worldwide. The decision to transfer creative and distribution control of two of its signature titles to Lionsgate suggests a potential pivot for the independent producer.
Lionsgate has also struggled of late to extend its own action franchises, with Ballerina, a spinoff of the studio’s John Wick juggernaut, starring Ana de Armas, earning a relatively disappointing $137 million worldwide.
