The Marine 3 : Homefront The Marine 3 : Homefront is a 2013 American action film , starring professional wrestler The Miz and directed by Scott Wiper . It was released on March 5 , 2013 . It is a sequel to " The Marine " starring John Cena and " The Marine 2 " , starring Ted Dibiase Jr . . Plot . Sergeant Jake Carter ( The Miz ) of the U . S . Marine Corps ' Special Operations Forces is returning home to his small rural town after a dangerous covert mission in Central America . He ' s looking forward to spending quality time with his two sisters , Amanda ( Camille Sullivan ) and Lilly ( Ashley Bell ) . Jake ' s homecoming is short - lived though when Lilly and her boyfriend are kidnapped and Jake is forced to make use of his military skills to save them . Taken by Jonah Pope ( Neal McDonough ) , a former foreign college professor turned extremist , Pope determined to unleash an elaborate terrorist attack on American soil , Carter will do whatever is necessary to save his sister and to stop Pope before it ' s too late . Production . " The Marine 3 : Homefront " is the sequel to " The Marine " starring John Cena and " The Marine 2 " starring Ted DiBiase . On February 25 , 2012 , WWE Studios announced a three film distribution deal with 20th Century Fox Home Video and The Marine 3 : Homefront was the first of that deal . 20th Century Fox will handle the global distribution of the film on DVD , Video On Demand , and Online outlets . WWE Studios also used WWE ' s television and internet status to promote and market the film . On March 28 , 2012 , is was reported that WWE star Randy Orton was set to star as the lead role in the film and Orton himself later tweeted to confirm it . However it was reported on April 3 , 2012 that Randy Orton had been pulled from the role due to his bad conduct discharge from the Marines in the late 1990s . Orton twice was absent without leave and disobeyed an order from a commanding officer . Orton ' s old Marine unit displayed public outrage of Randy being cast in the film due to his history . On April 30 , 2012 , it was announced that Mike " The Miz " Mizanin will be replacing Orton as the lead in the film . The Miz was a surprise to many people as being cast as the lead . On June 11 , 2012 , it was announced that Ashley Bell and Neal McDonough have joined the cast . Scott Wiper was in talks to direct the movie and to write the script . Filming began in the summer of 2012 . The entire movie was filmed in Vancouver . Reception . " The Marine 3 : Homefront " gained mixed reviews from critics , a review from Pro Wrestling Torch . com states , " athough " Marine 3 " is not a good movie and Miz is miscast in the lead role , he did show some chops as an actor here and could definitely play a supporting role in future releases and not seem out of place . Unfortunately much like his current role in WWE , Miz is out of his element in Marine 3 . " Another review from Bleacher Report . com states ; " This movie won ’ t win any Oscars anytime soon , but it wasn ’ t meant to . And while it is undoubtedly yet another cheesy action movie , there are times it strives to be more and has a level of intelligence you wouldn ' t expect it to have . " Another review from The Action Elite . com states : " The Miz is actually a very good and entertaining action star . I am surprised and impressed with his performance . The action is more grounded in reality than the original . The fights are brutal and fun to watch , If you need a nice change of pace , you will definitely enjoy The Marine 3 . It is a very fast paced piece of action cinema that will get you pumped . " On IMDB , " The Marine 3 : Homefront " has an average rating of 4 . 7 / 10 based on 9 user reviews and 14 critic reviews . On Rotten Tomatoes , The Marine 3 had a 21 % audience reception with an average rating of 2 . 7 / 5 based on 95 user ratings . Release . " The Marine 3 : Homefront " was released on DVD and Blu - ray on March 5 , 2013 and upon its release it rocketed to the top 20 DVD chart ranking in at # 12 and # 15 on the DVD and Blu - ray lists respectively . The Marine 3 is WWE ' s most successful straight - to - DVD release in a long time . After 4 weeks out it had sold 153 , 226 units for $ 2 , 291 , 262 , that ' s more than any other WWE regular DVD will do this year with the possible exception of Wrestlemania 29 . Promotion . The film has been promoted on all of WWE programming including Raw . WWE advertised the movie on WWE . com for several weeks and held various interviews . The trailer for the film premiered on WWE Tribute to the Troops . WWE also promoted by showing the trailer and interviews to the general public by uploading them onto YouTube . The star of the film , The Miz , also appeared on " Conan " to promote the film .