Jason Statham is ready to sting like a bee in the new action film The Beekeeper, but he won’t be delivering honey to any of these would-be scam artists. The latest film from action auteur David Ayer (Fury), The Beekeeper will be his first collaboration with action star Jason Statham, who made big waves earlier in 2023 with the smash hit monster film Meg 2: The Trench. This new and exciting collaboration sees Statham star as Mr. Clay – a retired operative who has left behind his long life of mercenary work. However, when a powerful soliciting firm ruthlessly scams his elderly neighbor, Clay becomes a Beekeeper again.
To learn more about the Ayer and Statham action feature, its cast, trailer, release date, and more, here is everything we know about The Beekeeper.
When Is ‘The Beekeeper’ Coming Out?
Jason Statham’s latest action anti-hero will buzz into the new year once The Beekeeper releases in theaters on Friday, January 12, 2024. The film will be opening on a crowded MLK holiday weekend that also includes the biblical comedy The Book of Clarence and Paramount’s Mean Girls: The Musical.
Where Can You Watch ‘The Beekeeper’?
MGM will release The Beekeeper exclusively in theaters in January 2024, meaning that the only way to see Jason Statham and David Ayer’s latest action feature is on the big screen. This comes after the historic big purchase of Metro Goldwyn Mayer by Amazon, with the media conglomerate buying the company for $8.5 billion. MGM being the studio behind The Beekeeper also gives a good idea of where the film will be making its streaming home (or streaming hive, if you will). Once the theatrical run of The Beekeeper concludes, we’ll likely see the film come to Amazon Prime Video and MGM+ for streaming.
MGM dropped the first red-band trailer for The Beekeeper on October 4, 2023, and we’re quickly introduced to Statham’s new action protagonist Mr. Clay. At first, Clay seems to be living a happy and carefree life as a literal beekeeper, tending the fields of a beautiful grassy property along with his innocent and kind neighbor, Mrs. Parker (Phylicia Rashad). The peace is upended when Parker is scammed by an incredibly powerful phishing operation, and the financial ruin it causes leads to Parker thinking there is no other way out, and she tragically takes her own life. When Clay learns of this, he tracks down these scammers and destroys their entire operation. However, Clay also soon discovers that this operation is just one piece of a national conspiracy. A conspiracy that only an elite organization known as The Beekeepers can put a stop to.
Who Stars in ‘The Beekeeper’?
Starring as the titular vigilante pest controller in The Beekeeper is Jason Statham, who had quite a busy year in 2023. Statham starred in a grand total of four blockbuster action films, first as an international super spy in Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, second as a redeemed mercenary in Fast X, third as an experienced shark hunter in Meg 2: The Trench, and fourth as a veteran action star in Expend4bles. That’s only scratching the surface of Statham’s long and illustrious career, which started in 1998 with his acting debut in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Statham is joined by an awe-inspiring supporting cast for The Beekeeper. This includes Creed star Phylicia Rashad, Five Nights at Freddy’s star Josh Hutcherson, The Witcher: Blood Origin star Minnie Driver, Watchmen star Jeremy Irons, The Umbrella Academy star Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Bright star Bobby Naderi. The rest of the attached cast includes Enzo Cilenti (Free Fire), Taylor James (Samson), Dan Li (The Continental: From the World of John Wick), Adam Basil (Django), David Witts (Manhunt), Reza Diako (The Covenant), Jessica Maria Gilhooley (Mel), Arian Nik (Count Abdulla), and Michael Epp (Secret Invasion).
What Is ‘The Beekeeper’ About?
The official synopsis of The Beekeeper reads as follows:
“In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as ‘Beekeepers.'”
Who Is Making ‘The Beekeeper’?
In the director’s chair for The Beekeeper is experienced action filmmaker David Ayer, who once was best known for his screenwriting work on the original The Fast and the Furious and the classic corrupt cop drama Training Day. Nowadays, Ayer is known for his directing work on End of Watch, Sabotage, Fury, Suicide Squad, Bright, and more. The Beekeeper will be David Ayer’s first directorial feature since the 2020 film The Tax Collector. The Beekeeper is also being written by Equilibrium screenwriter Kurt Wimmer and will be executive produced by The Witcher co-producer Mark Birmingham.
The rest of the crew of The Beekeeper includes composer Jared Michael Fry (Safehouse), cinematographer Gabriel Beristain (Black Widow), editor Geoffrey O’Brien (Bright), costume designer Kelli Jones (Venom), and first-time production designer Ben Munro.
Other David Ayer Films You Can Watch Right Now:
End of Watch (2012): Arguably the first directorial feature from Ayer to really put him on the map as a filmmaker, End of Watch is a brilliant documentary-style thriller depicting the lives of two LAPD officers. In what feels like something of a spiritual successor to Training Day, End of Watch follows Officer Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Officer Zavala (Michael Peña) as a documentary crew chronicles their uncovering of a criminal conspiracy.
Sabotage (2014): Before getting the opportunity to work with Jason Statham, David Ayer worked with another action movie icon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Sabotage. Like End of Watch, Sabotage also deals with a group of law enforcement officers who unwittingly stumble on a vast criminal empire. This time, an entire DEA task force is caught in the crossfire after they unknowingly cross the wrong drug cartel.
Fury (2014): Releasing the same year as Sabotage, Fury is a far more grounded action spectacle set in the backdrop of World War II-era Germany. Here, Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier (Brad Pitt) leads a squad of tank technicians as they snuff out the remnants of the fizzling German army. Though the war may be ending, the conflict for this ragtag team is far from over.