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Fresh off its number one debut at the North American box office with an opening weekend gross of $34.8 million, Lionsgate has licensed its hard-hitting action thriller The Expendables to Spike TV for its first free television window, the two companies announced. The film will premiere on Spike TV in April 2013.
The sale follows on the heels of the Company’s recent licensing of the action hit Kick Ass to Spike TV. The Expendables, directed, starring and cowritten by Sylvester Stallone, is currently the number one movie in North America and brings together an iconic cast of action stars never before seen in one film, including Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, David Zayas, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke.
“We are very excited about the tremendous box office opening of The Expendables, and we’re delighted to license it to our partners at Spike TV as the latest film in our steady diet of high octane action thrillers ideally suited to their audience,” said Lionsgate Television Group President Kevin Beggs. “We’re committed to monetizing our strong slate of films in all distribution platforms, and Spike has proven to be a perfect partner for our action thrillers.”
“The Expendables is one of this summer’s hottest action films, and we’re delighted to be the first network to offer it to our audience,” said Spike TV President Kevin Kay. “Lionsgate is one of the premier suppliers of the kind of explosive action thrillers that our viewers crave and we look forward to a continuing pipeline of action thrillers from them in the future.”
The agreement was negotiated by Rand Stoll, Lionsgate’s executive vice president of television sales, and John Griffin, Spike TV’s senior vice president of programming.
The Expendables is the hard hitting story of a group of hardened mercenaries led by Stallone who infiltrate the fictional South American country of Vilena to overthrow its ruthless dictator. But when their job is revealed to be a suicide mission, the men are faced with a deadly choice, one that might redeem their souls… or destroy their brotherhood forever.
