The Expendables 2With the massive financial success last year of The Expendables, we knew it was just a matter of time before work on a sequel to the star-studded actioner was to begin. Sure enough, production on The Expendables 2 is now underway, but at this point it's mostly just talks, contract stuff, and casting speculation. It is said that a release date of August 17, 2012 has been settled on, so we expect this thing to get really rolling in the coming months.

Sure enough, firstshowing.com spotted the following teaser ad/poster for the sequel in a magazine while browsing at Cannes Film Festival. It reveals nothing about what we might expect to see in 2, in fact, it's really just a re-work of the early promotional images for 1 that also made a brief appearance at the same festival last year. Appears to be the same (or very similar) chrome skull, but instead of wings made of guns that frame the skull, this one features just a single pair of assault knives forming the crossbones to the skull. Very Pirates of the Caribbean!

The Expendables 2 teasre poster

What we know about Expendables 2: Stallone will be in it, but he will not direct; the screenplay is being penned by David Agosto & Ken Kaufman, the latter of whom wrote Space Cowboys, The Missing, and 2006's Curious George; NuImage/Millenium is producing. nuImage also just recently posted the following synopsis for The Expendables 2:

The Expendables are back and this time it's personal! After Tool (Mickey Rourke), the heart and soul of the Expendables, is brutally murdered on a mission, his comrades swear to avenge him. They're not the only ones who want blood. Tool’s beautiful young and wild daughter Fiona embarks on her own revenge mission, complicating matters when she is captured and ransomed by a ruthless dictator plotting to destroy a resistance movement. Now Barney and the Expendables must risk everything to save her and humanity.*

What we don't know: No official word on a director yet, but we expect an announcement very soon; can the sequel find the same world-wide audience that forked out nearly $300 million for the first installment?: will Bruce Willis and most of the ensemble cast return? Stallone tweeted back last fall that he wants the Die Hard star for 2.

*Stallone just dropped word that the synopsis that has been making its way around the internet is not correct. He did not offer a replacement, but said that the official synopsis will come out soon.