Jason Statham’s success in 2024 makes a strong case for bringing him back for another sequel to one of the earliest blockbuster action movie franchises of his career. For the past two decades, Statham has been one of the most reliable action movie stars in Hollywood.
In the past few years, Statham has been called on to take over the Expendables and Fast & Furious franchises from their current stars. But the critical and commercial disappointment of those endeavors has proven that Statham’s best bet is to stick with his own franchises. He’s headlined such action movie franchises as the Crank, Mechanic, and Meg series, and found plenty of success in his own right. Statham’s recent win at the box office and the surprising success of one of his older films on Netflix suggest he should go back to one of his earliest franchises.
The Beekeeper’s Box Office Proves Jason Statham Is Still A Major Action Movie Star
Statham’s latest vehicular action movie, The Beekeeper, was a huge success at the box office, grossing over $133 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) on a modest $40 million budget. A beekeeper sees a former mercenary return to action for revenge when his friend and owner fall victim to a phishing scam. The Beekeeper is currently the highest-grossing film of 2024. It surely won’t hold that record once Dune: Part Two, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes all come along, but it’s an impressive feat nonetheless.RELATED:
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The success of The Beekeeper proved that Statham is still a major action star and has a place among the A-list. He managed to outperform star casts based on IPs like Argyle and Mean Girls, proving that Statham is a franchise in his own right. Unlike many of his action movie peers, Statham is still in his prime, at the peak of his star power. The Beekeeper could become its own franchise, and in the meantime, it could return to one of its old franchises that needs an overhaul.
The Transporter Movies Have Found New Life On Streaming
The success of The Beekeeper seems to have led to a resurgence in the popularity of Statham’s back catalog. His 2005 action thriller sequel Transporter 2 has managed to climb its way into the Top 10 streaming chart on Netflix. On the week of January 8 through January 14 – the week that The Beekeeper arrived in theaters and bolstered Statham’s star power – Transporter 2 made it to the no. 2 spot in Netflix’s Top 10 movies, just behind the brand-new Netflix original Lift.
Transporter 2 scored a massive 5.8 million views in that week alone.
It’s clear that after watching The Beekeeper, many viewers were hungry for more Statham action, which led them to watch Transporter 2 on Netflix. Since the Transporter franchise has found a new life on streaming, and audiences clearly still respond to Statham’s Frank Martin character, it might be time for Statham to revisit the role in a new Transporter sequel.
Even Transporter’s Director Is Ready For More Jason Statham Sequels
Director Louis Leterrier, who helmed Transporter 2, has said that he’s open to returning to the franchise for another movie with Statham. Leterrier recently reunited with Statham when the former directed the latest Fast & Furious sequel, Fast X, and the latter reprised his role as Deckard Shaw. During the press tour for Fast X, Leterrier said he’d be open to making Transporter 4 with Statham. Leterrier said that working with Statham again on Fast X was “a true pleasure,” and that teaming up with him for a new Transporter movie “would be a dream.”RELATED:
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In the same interview, Leterrier said that very little changed about their working relationship all these years later, so they could pick up where they left off. Statham turned down the chance to appear in The Transporter Refueled due to business reasons, not creative reasons, so there’s a chance he’d be open to returning for another Transporter movie.