It’s become sort of a tradition with Sylvester Stallone‘s epic action series The Expendables—each movie is rumored to possibly be getting a PG-13 rating, then ultimately ends up with an R when it’s all said and done. The Expendables 2 famously had Chuck Norris state that the movie would be PG-13 (because young fans shouldn’t have to hear naughty language while watching bad guys get mowed down by big f’n guns), which was confirmed by Stallone, only later to be changed to an R.

As The Expendables 3 has approached, rumors of a PG-13 rating have of course made the rounds. But now comes word that the rating is no longer a rumor, but a sad fact. According to reports, the MPAA has given the teen-friendly flick the rating due to violence, including intense sustained gun battles and fight scenes, and language.

Lionsgate has released an action-packed new trailer for The Expendables 3. You can watch it here below.

This preview not only gives us a gander at the large-scale action set-pieces we’ve come to expect from the franchise but also provides us with some story details. Not much though. We already knew Mel Gibson was playing the villain and was a former friend and partner of Sylvester Stallone‘s character. The good guys get an infusion of young blood. Lots of stuff blows up. Corny jokes and cliched dialogue are exchanged. Rinse, repeat, roll credits.

The Expendables 2
Netflix | Amazon | Epix | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | Xbox
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Simon West
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yu Nan
Lionsgate
Originally Released: August 17, 2012

Oh, the glory of the ridiculous action delivered in The Expendables 2. This is vibrant popcorn-movie wonder, a kick ass explosive injection of testosterone straight to the stones, and enjoyable. The cheese is thick and hearty – after all, who doesn’t like a little cheese with their nachos?

Picking up sometime after the first Expendables movie, Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) comes back to claim a mission in place of the lost revenue from the last mission. Barney (Sylvester Stallone) rallies his team, accompanied by Agent Maggie Chan (Yu Nan), to retrieve sensitive computer data lost in a downed plane in Albania.

A while back, Nicolas Cage was said to be in the mix for a role in The Expendables 3, but nothing ever came of it. Instead, it’s being reported that Kelsey Grammer has joined the cast, and will be playing the role that Cage was rumored to be up for.

Grammer will be playing an ex-mercenary named Bonaparte who helps the Expendables with their mission. The actor also recently signed on to play the villain in Transformers 4.

Sylvester Stallone commonly takes to his Twitter feed to keep fans informed with up-to-the-minute news regarding his latest projects. Lately he’s been blowing up the feed with rumors about who will or won’t be directing/starring in/operating the boom mike on The Expendables 3, which is set for release late next summer.

Today Stallone dropped a mighty big bomb – bigger than Rhinestone even – about the latest old-school action hero to join him, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and whoever else has yet to join the cast. News flash: he’s bigger than the entire cast combined…Harrison Ford. And even more interesting is this is apparently not a casting addition, but a replacement of Bruce Willis.