Jason Statham Just Made A Box Office Milestone
The Beekeeper, starring Jason Statham and directed by David Ayer, has emerged as the highest-grossing movie of 2024 at the global box office. The action-thriller, released on January 12, 2024, has raked in an impressive $75 million worldwide in just 10 days, securing its position as the top movie of the year.
Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper Is A Hit
To be fair, we’re barely more than three weeks into the year, so it’s not like the Jason Statham movie has had a lot of competition so far.
Still, the movie has maintained its number two spot domestically and become a number one hit internationally.
Big Return For David Ayer
Beating out its main competition, the musical remake of Mean Girls, the Jason Statham film is already accumulating its fair share of positive reviews.
It’s a triumphant return for director David Ayer, whose last wide theatrical release was in 2016 with Suicide Squad. While the DC supervillain flick was a box office smash, bringing in $747 million countering a $175 million budget, the panned reviews of the film were a major blow to Ayer’s career.
Great News For Jason Statham
The success of The Beekeeper is good news for Jason Statham, too, as the actor was also facing a bit of a career plateau. The actor’s last big film was Expend4bles, a box office disaster that only brought in $51 million against a $100 million budget.
Underperforming is not a problem for The Beekeeper, however. Despite only being out 10 days, Jason Statham’s newest venture has already surpassed the reported $70 million it took to make the movie, bringing in a total of $75.5 million worldwide so far.
Big In Foreign Markets
Notable foreign markets contributing to the film’s global success include China ($9.5 million), the Middle East ($5.6 million), Germany and Austria ($5.5 million), Mexico ($2.5 million), and the U.K. ($2.7 million).
The Beekeeper has surpassed Mean Girls, which earned $66 million, which means that Jason Statham and David Ayer’s latest film is not a flop—it’s the top-grossing movie of the year.
Critical And Audience Reactions
Audiences are loving The Beekeeper—or, if they’re not loving it, they at least consider the Jason Statham flick to be a solid B-movie.
The Beekeeper has accumulated a collection of positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the film a 71 percent approval rating, and audiences have given it a B+ score on CinemaScore.
However, the critics aren’t as nice. A critique from The Guardian described Jason Statham’s performance as “serviceable schlock.”
Conversely, rogerebert.com, while applauding several elements of the film such as its diverse array of villains, expressed disappointment, lamenting that The Beekeeper falls short of becoming the anticipated “righteous trash masterpiece” it teases throughout.
Potential Beekeeper Franchise?
As The Beekeeper continues to generate buzz, the question arises: While the movie has done its job of pulling Jason Statham and David Ayer’s careers out of the mud, will it be able to hold its own against other movies set to drop this year?
It’s a pretty tough lineup this year, with films like Joker 2, Dune: Part Two, and Deadpool 3 already being tagged as the favorites of 2024.
Moviegoers intrigued by the potential franchise-starter can catch The Beekeeper in theaters and witness Jason Statham’s action-packed narrative unfold.
