According to Screen Daily, Millennium Films is bringing the fifth film in the Rambo franchise to Cannes this week to cover worldwide sales. According to the trade, Rambo V shooting is set to begin in September in London, Bulgaria, and the Canary Islands with Sylvester Stallone once again in the lead, and a director to be announced shortly.
The new film finds John Rambo coping with intense PTSD while living on a ranch in Arizona, trying to pick up casual work wherever he can. Soon his friend and estate manager Maria informs him that her granddaughter went missing after crossing into Mexico for a party, so John travels south of the border to find the youngster. The quest quickly turns into a violent descent into hell as Rambo uncovers a sex-trafficking ring, teaming up with a journalist whose half-sister has also been kidnapped. Rambo has to deploy all his skills to save the girls and bring down a vicious crime lord.
Matt Cirulnick (Absentia) wrote the screenplay for Rambo V (previously rumored to be titled Rambo: Last Blood), which Avi Lerner and Kevin King will produce.
Millennium was previously planning a Rambo reboot movie with Israeli helmer Ariel Vroman (The Iceman, Criminal) behind the camera and Brooks McLaren penning the script with the aim of recasting the role created in David Morrell’s 1972 novel “First Blood” and popularized in the four films starring Sylvester Stallone. There were also plans for a proposed Rambo: New Blood TV series at FOX that were also abandoned. Despite Stallone stating in 2016 that he was too old to take on the part again, the plan is for the 71-year-old actor to reprise the role one more time.
“The heart’s willing, but the body says, ‘Stay home!’” Stallone said in 2016. “It’s like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.”
Stallone last played the role of John Rambo in 2008’s Rambo, which earned $113.2 million worldwide on a $50 million budget. He also wrote and directed that film.
