The Beekeeper has become a major box office success for Jason Statham, meaning he has now replaced his two biggest franchises. The 2024 action movie from director David Ayer came to theaters without expectations of becoming a dominant hit. However, that is exactly what has happened with The Beekeeper’s box office, as lacking competition early in the year and favorable reactions keep bringing people to check out the film. The result is Jason Statham receiving another hit that could become another financially strong franchise for him.
Even as updates that The Beekeeper 2 is happening have yet to come, Statham has largely built his career around being part of major franchises. This can be clearly seen through how the Fast & Furious and Expendables movies have taken up most of his time in recent years. This included appearing in both in 2023, even if the box office hauls for Fast X and Expend4bles were below expectations. That means The Beekeeper’s success comes at a great time for the action star, especially as it helps him finish replacing those two franchises.
The Beekeeper Can Become Jason Statham’s Expendables Replacement After 4 Movies
The success that The Beekeeper has had at the box office means the movie is now positioned to be Jason Statham’s The Expendables replacement. After playing Lee Christmas in four movies, Expend4bles killed any hope for the franchise’s continuation with its disastrous box office performance. This came at an unfortunate time for Statham considering Expendables 4 positioned him as the new lead of the series. That meant that the actor was left in a spot where he desperately needed to find a new action franchise to take Expendables’ place after it replaced Transporter.
Since The Expendables is one of the best movies like The Beekeeper, Statham’s 2024 action movie is a natural replacement for the franchise. David Ayer’s film might not have nearly as much 80s nostalgia, but The Beekeeper and The Expendables are cut from the same cloth in terms of being throwback action movies with a grittier approach. With audiences responding so positively to the original action movie, it has now become clearly positioned to be a new franchise as long as Amazon MGM moves forward with plans for The Beekeeper 2.
Jason Statham Also Has His Fast & Furious Replacement Franchise With The Meg
The Beekeeper’s success is also great news for Jason Statham as it comes on the heels of The Meg becoming a viable franchise for him as well. The first movie was a surprise box office hit in 2018 making over $500 million worldwide, but Meg 2: The Trench’s box office also delivered a sizable haul in 2023 of nearly $400 million. As an over-the-top action franchise with major hit potential, The Meg has quickly positioned itself as Statham’s way to replace the Fast & Furious franchise.
The Fast & Furious movies account for Jason Statham’s biggest box office hits, but he is not the star in them all. Furious 7 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw utilized him best and the most. However, his future in the franchise is not clear. Not having a bankable box office franchise like Fast & Furious could have been an issue for Statham if The Meg was not already lined up. Instead of continuing to rely on Expendables and Fast & Furious, The Beekeeper and The Meg give Jason Statham two new major franchises with box office appeal.