Sylvester Stallone has developed a strong with his relationship with his fans.  Years ago, he did an ask-me-anything on AICN before AMAs even existed.  He’s willing to critique his past work, and he’s happy to share what’s happening with his latest projects.  Stallone recently took to his Twitter feed to provide some updates on The Expendables 3.  He revealed the return of Mickey Rourke by tweeting, “Mighty Mickey is back…..”.  Then Stallone teased a couple of new additions to the cast.  In December, Jackie Chan said he was on board, and Stallone tweeted yesterday, “What’s the plan? Ask Jackie Chan….”  And now that Wesley Snipes is out of prison, Stallone says, “Talked to WESLEY today … He can not WAIT to fight to the top again !!!!!!! Over…”  I’m sure Wesley Snipes’ stunt double will be glad to hear it.

Hit the jump for what Stallone had to say about The Expendables 3 trying to outdo one of the best action films in years, The Raid.

You can tell Sylvester Stallone is having a helluva good time with The Expendables franchise, but the writer/director/actor wants to bring a bit more humor into the mix.  Taking to Twitter this evening, Stallone commented on the tone of The Expendables 3, which he is currently writing, and hopefully getting Jackie Chan into the cast as was previously rumored.  He also gave a brief update on an action star who would not be making the cut and alluded to an injection of “young blood” into the franchise.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Jason Statham teams up with Jennifer Lopez in the new crime thriller Parker set amidst the unparalleled wealth and glamor of Palm Beach and based on the crime novel Flashfire by Richard Stark, one of the many pseudonyms of Donald E. Westlake, the prolific crime fiction author.  The most daring, meticulous and ruthless thief in the business, Parker (Statham) is an expert at planning and executing seemingly impossible heists and he plays by a strong code of ethics.  Opening January 25^th, the film is directed by Academy Award winner Taylor Hackford and features a terrific cast that also includes Michael Chiklis, Clifton Collins, Jr., Micah Hauptman, Wendell Pierce, Patti Lupone and Nick Nolte.

At a roundtable interview at the film’s recent press day, Statham talked about playing the iconic title character of Westlake’s popular series of crime novels, collaborating with Hackford on his first action film, performing some of the film’s carefully choreographed and incredibly intense stunt sequences, and working opposite Lopez and veteran actors Lupone and Nolte.  He also updated us on Homefront written by Sylvester Stallone and rumors that Jackie Chan may be joining him in The Expendables 3. Hit the jump to read more:

Sheila spoke to the cast of Parker at roundtable interviews today.  We will have the full interviews for you soon, but we want to pass along what Jason Statham had to say about The Expendables 3 and Homefront.  Statham has only heard rumors about the Expendables sequel, but he too likes the one about Jackie Chan joining the cast: “[Chan has] broken every bone in his body for his commitment and dedication to doing his own stunts. So he’s the real deal.”  Statham is open to all potential newcomers—including Nicolas Cage—and mentions, “I like Clint Eastwood as well.”

Statham was honored when Stallone brought Homefront, a script that Stallone wrote intending to star, to Statham and offered the lead role: “He adapted it to suit me.  It was like a tailor-made suit and Sly did all the sewing.  Fantastic!”  Hit the jump for the full quotes.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this evening.  First up, The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson is in negotiations to star opposite Benicio Del Toro in the Pablo Escobar drama Paradise Lost.  Per Deadline, Hutcherson will play the lead character of Nick, “a young Irish surfer who visits his brother in Colombia” where he meets the love of his life and her uncle Pablo.  Actor Andrea Di Stefano (Life of Pi) is making his directorial debut on the project, with production set to get underway in March in Panama.  Hutcherson is currently filming the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in Hawaii.

Hit the jump for news concerning Jackie Chan joining the cast of The Expendables 3.

Fans of the original action hero mash-up The Expendables are in for higher stakes, twice the explosions and more grizzled cast members in The Expendables 2, now available on Blu-ray. While the sequel managed to top the experience of the first film, the Blu-ray has plenty of extras to keep fans busy, including a commentary track by director Simon West (Con Air) that provides a lot of behind-the-scenes info. Want to know what weapons the Expendables used? Want to know how much bigger the sequel could have been? Want to see the real life Expendables the movie characters referenced? Well then hit the jump for my review of The Expendables 2 on Blu-ray. 

Known as the Acting Outlaws, actresses Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer (who both worked on Battlestar Galactica together) participate in a variety of charity events, in an effort to raise money and awareness for causes they feel strongly about.  With a merchandise store (at www.ActingOutlaws.org) that includes various t-shirts and a documentary of the motorcycle ride they took from Los Angeles to Louisiana, they now have a 2013 calendar that features 12 months of exclusive photos of the women in classy and provocative poses.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Katee Sackhoff talked about how the Acting Outlaws came about, what made them decide to do their first-ever calendar, where her interest in and love for motorcycles started, and more.  She also talked about returning to her A&E drama series Longmire for Season 2, which starts shooting again in the middle of March, her experience making the next Riddick film with Vin Diesel, for which she had a nude scene that she needed to get her father’s permission for first, that she’s seen bits and pieces of the film while recording ADR and said that it’s bloody but that the R rating is definitely more for the language, how she’s attached to do the all-female Expendables movie with Gina Carano and that she’s excited about all of the women that they’re talking to for roles in it, and what it was like to work with Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) on the horror film Oculus.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

It appears that Nicolas Cage has forgotten how to use the word “no.”  The actor has signed on to a large number of projects as of late, including a reboot of the Evangelical Christian series Left Behind.  He’s now adding another project to his slate, though this one is more in line with the fun Nic Cage of the 1990s.  We learned back in August that producers were trying to rope in some high profile names for the invetiable action sequel The Expendables 3, and Cage was on said wish list.  Now Sylvester Stallone has revealed a bit about the confirmed follow-up, stating that Cage is indeed onboard.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say. [Update: A new report indicates that Cage is not actually signed on.  Hit the jump for further explanation.]

There’s a lot of American Film Market (AFM) craziness on the way with announcements, confirmations, first images and synopses from plenty of upcoming films.  The Expendables 3 has looked like it’s pretty much a go since August, and a flyer from Nu Media/Millennium Films has confirmed that the studios are selling the international distribution rights, which will likely help fund the upcoming action flick.  A more surprising announcement is that Nu Media/Millennium Films are planning The Mechanic 2, a sequel to the 2011 action flick about a hitman (Jason Statham) and his protégé (Ben Foster).  We have absolutely no details on the plot for either sequel, but The Mechanic 2 is a bit of a surprise since the original flopped at the box office.

We’ll be sure to bring you any updates on both projects as we get them.  Hit the jump for a full look at the flyer, which also includes Nu Media/Millennium Films’ non-sequels.

Action veteran Katee Sackhoff will put her Battlestar Galactica skills to the test alongside Gina Carano in the all-female version of The Expendables.  We previously posted Carano’s attachment to the Adi Shankar production and the news about Sackhoff comes as a welcome addition for sci-fi fans.  We’ve yet to see a veteran action heroine added to the cast (ie Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, etc), but the picture is building a solid young core of experienced action stars to carry what will hopefully be a successful franchise.  Hit the jump for more on Sackhoff’s addition and the reaction from Shankar.

Just a short while ago we announced the production of a female version of The Expendables.  Now, we have word that up-and-coming action star Gina Carano (Haywire) is set to topline the untitled picture.  Carano was briefly mentioned in our fantasy cast for Adi Shankar’s production, which Dutch Southern is writing. The former American Gladiators star certainly has the goods to be the face of the ladies’ version of the franchise, but it would be a missed opportunity not to include some of cinema’s classic action heroines.  Hit the jump to see what Shankar had to say about Carano joining the picture.

The minds behind The Expendables series are keen to start work on the next sequel. But as they busy themselves with adding more replaceable cogs to their wholly replaceable cast, today comes news that if/when The Expendables 3 does get rolling, current cog Chuck Norris won’t be there. The reason for his departure is unconfirmed; however, Norris did make headlines a few months ago when he unsuccessfully lobbied to have The Expendables 2 edited down to a PG-13 (lest his legion of young fans be traumatized by profanity while they’re watching old men murder people). The uninformed might also attribute the decision to Norris being in his 70s, not realizing that in Chuck Norris-years, he’s only 26.  At any rate, hit the jump for the action legend’s comments on his departure from the franchise.

The Expendables 2 was the easy winner this weekend with an estimated $28.7 million – though that figure fell short of its pre-release expectations. Sparkle and ParaNorman also came in a bit under projections but, overall, the box office managed to stay ahead of 2011’s totals… exactly the kind of exciting end-of-summer we were all imagining, right?

This weekend’s release of ParaNorman will afford me the rare opportunity to share an afternoon in the theater with two of my nephews, ages 8 and 10. Granted, they’re a little disappointed that we’re not checking it out in 3D, but I just can’t bring myself to foster any sort of affinity for the technology in their young and impressionable minds. The last movie we watched in theaters together was 2009′s Up and it was an experience that I’ll never forget as its brilliant opening sequence brought tears to both of their eyes at the ripe ages of 5 and 7. It was a glowing example of the cinema’s ability to touch young and old alike and while ParaNorman will likely be unable to touch that moment, I’m looking forward to it a ton nonetheless.

My weekend plans aside, in a three-fifths ode to our action heroes of yesteryear, this week’s Top 5 includes video interviews with the cast of The Expendables 2, video interviews with the cast and directors of ParaNorman, the first poster and trailer for Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s The Last Stand, David Cronenberg vs. the superhero genre, and the first trailer for Sly Stallone and director Walter Hill‘s revenge tale, Bullet to the Head. As always, a brief recap and link to each greets you after the jump.

In a very crowded field of late-summer contenders, one film stood alone on Friday. The Expendables 2, sequel to 2010’s paean to 1980s action, took in $10.5 million on Friday – twice as much as The Bourne Legacy in second place. Playing in 3,316 locations, the sequel is expected to earn about $30 million by Sunday: a bit less than The Expendables saw on this same weekend two years ago. Two other new releases did well enough to make it into Friday’s top five: ParaNorman, the stop-motion animated feature from the creators of Coraline, earned an estimated $4.5 million from 3,429 runs while Sparkle, the musical drama co-starring the late Whitney Houston, realized $4.6 million from a more-modest 2,244 locations. Both films are expected to fall in the $13 million range after their first three days. Outside of the top five, The Odd Life of Timothy Green earned an estimated $3.4 million while The Dark Knight Rises crossed the $400 million mark in domestic ticket sales. We’ll have complete details tomorrow.