Expendables 2: High-End Recycling at Comic-Con

Sylvester Stallone brought his Expendables crew to San Diego's Comic-Con to promote the August 17th release of The Expendables 2. The original movie grossed almost $275 million worldwide, so it wasn't much of a surprise that Sly put the band back together for another go at recycling 80s action heroes.

Stallone actually claimed his inspiration for the first movie had been those rock package tours with old bands that can't fill a room by themselves but can pack an amphitheater when you put them all together (Journey/Styx/Kansas or Def Leppard/Poison/Cheap Trick, for example).

%embed1%

Expendables 2 features a long list: Sly, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Randy Couture & Dolph Lundgren join forces to fight a villain played by Jean Claude Van Damme. Also, someone decided to throw The Hunger Games' Liam Hemsworth into the mix in hopes of attracting a few kids to the movie.

The first movie featured Jason Statham taking a salary cut to pay tribute to the guys who created the business model for the kind of relentless action movies that have built his career. Schwarzenegger and Willis made a cameo appearance but it looks like they've decided to get in on the full action this time.

The Governor seemed incredibly happy to be back in the action picture business. No one at the panel asked any uncomfortable questions about the state budgetary crisis or the status of his personal life. He joked that Stallone was his original English teacher when he came to the United States, told a story about getting back into the swing of loading and firing his weapons on set and seemed incredibly excited The Tomb, about another movie he just finished shooting with Stallone, Vincent D'Onofrio and 50 Cent.

The panel took place in the massive 6500-seat Hall H. The photo above was taken from one of the allegedly prime reserved seats and all the onstage participants (Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Crews, Couture and Lundgren) looked like ants from out seats. If you're stuck in the back of the hall, you're not going to see anything with out the giant screens.

%embed2%

Also on display on the show floor was Ubisoft's upcoming game based on the movie. It's coming early to PlayStation Network on July 31st and Xbox Live and PC on August 17th (same day the movie hits theaters) and gives players a chance to play as Stallone, Terry Crews, Jet Li or Dolph Lundgren's characters. It looks quick, dirty and not too full of itself (sort of like the movies it's based on).