'The Expendables' may now be one of the biggest action movie franchises of the modern day, but there was a time when the very first film may not have been given a fair shake at success. Starring the likes of Terry Crews and Sylvester Stallone - the latter of whom also directed - other A-list names joined the cast such as Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, and more.

Terry Crews says 'The Expendables' almost went straight to home releaseTerry Crews says 'The Expendables' almost went straight to home release

If Stallone hadn't worked so hard to bring other big names on board, there was a chance 'The Expendables' would have gone straight to video. This is something Crews has opened up about in a career retrospective.

Speaking to GQ, he revealed: "'The Expendables', the first movie, was supposed to be direct to video. You’ve got to understand where Stallone was at the time. He was trying to get this thing done and like ‘Dude, you’re in your sixties, how you gonna do an action movie?’ All the studios turned it down, so Sly starts calling people and he starts getting the buzz going. And this is also in the first days of getting viral energy on the internet. So what Sly started to do was tweet out ‘How would you like to see me, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis in a movie together?’ And the internet went crazy."

Despite the love for Crews in the series, the actor won't be making a return for the franchise's fourth outing. The star alleges that he made the decision not to make a comeback because one of the film's producers, Avi Lerner, encouraged him to drop his sexual harassment claims against Adam Venit.

Crews of course came forward last year about his own experiences with sexual assault in Hollywood, saying he had been groped by an unnamed individual in full view of his wife in 2016. The incident is alleged to have taken place at a party, and the person who is said to have assaulted Crews was later identified as Adam Venit.

The outcome of Crews' lawsuit is still to be determined. We'll be keeping a close eye on everything that goes down.

More: Terry Crews Confirms He Has Filed Police Report Following Groping Allegations Against Hollywood Exec

We'll bring you more news surrounding 'The Expendables' as and when we get it.