MOVIE NEWS – Jason Statham’s latest film, The Beekeeper, grossed more at the domestic box office in its opening weekend than his debut 2023 did in its entire run.

The Beekeeper creates a new opportunity for Jason Statham at the box office. The new film, helmed by Suicide Squad director David Ayer, tells the story of Adam Clay (Statham), a former elite team member who works as a beekeeper. When a phishing scam leads to the suicide of his friend and neighbor Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), Clay goes on a violent rampage to take revenge on the corrupt tech company that is carrying out the phishing, which turns out to be part of a much larger conspiracy.

According to Deadline, The Beekeeper is expected to gross $16.8 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend. It’s also on track to gross a total of $19.2 million over the four days of Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. These numbers mean that the film will bring in more in its first weekend than Statham’s previous action film, 2023’s Expend4bles, which grossed a total of $16.7 million domestically.

R-rated The Beekeeper did well at the weekend box office, taking second place behind IP-rated PG-13 musical Mean Girls. This, along with its dominance over Statham’s latest franchise film, bodes well for the film’s future. However, Statham has starred in a number of successful films whose overall box office totals the new film may not match, including the six-part mega-blockbuster Fast & Furious franchise. Let’s look at the opening and total domestic grosses of Statham’s five most recent action films compared to The Beehive below:

Overall, it appears that Statham’s recent non-franchise films tend to double their domestic openings, meaning The Beekeeper is expected to gross about $33 million or more domestically. That wouldn’t even rival the gross of a middling sequel like Fast X, which underperformed at the domestic box office. However, it would still be the best domestic result for a non-sequel Statham film since The Meg, which grossed $145.5 million in 2018.

The Bee’s reviews could also help the film outperform its competitors. It’s the first “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes for Statham since 2021’s Wrath of Man, and it’s his best rating since then, matching the Certified Fresh action-comedy Spy from 2015. It’s highly unlikely to reach the $50 million milestone given the precedent of his previous films, but it could still rise high enough to launch The Beekeeper franchise.

Source: Deadline