Jason Statham’s latest action hero is playing by his own rules in the first trailer for the upcoming action-thriller, The Beekeeper.
MGM recently debuted the official restricted trailer for The Beekeeper, featuring Statham’s character going full John Wick on a phishing company that cleaned out his former neighbor’s bank accounts. While Statham’s character, referred to as “Mr. Clay,” at the beginning of the trailer was living a peaceful life as a beekeeper, viewers slowly learn that that title holds another meaning and that Mr. Clay was once part of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers.”
With no one to trust, including government and law enforcement, Statham is a one-man army on a mission to take down the phishing company’s entire chain of command in The Beekeeper, which also features fan-favorite actors Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) and Jeremy Irons (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). David Ayer, best known for directing Fury and Suicide Squad, helmed The Beekeeper, which is being envisioned as the start of a new franchise.
Jason Statham Can’t Resist a Good Action Role
Statham is coming off of one of the biggest flops in his career, Expend4bles, the fourth installment in The Expendables franchise. The R-rated action movie opened to a surprisingly low $8 million domestically, finishing in second place that weekend behind The Nun II. Expend4bles’ box office has since grown to $40.8 million, meaning the movie still has a long way to go before earning back its reported $100 million budget.
While Expend4bles failed to light up the box office, Statham still managed to have at least one hit this year. The actor headlined Meg 2: The Trench, which was released during the Summer box office season. The long-awaited sequel to 2018’s The Meg was a minor box office success for Warner Bros., grossing $395 million worldwide despite mixed reviews from critics.
Will Warner Bros. #ReleaseTheAyerCut?
The Beekeeper comes amid continued pressure from DC fans for Warner Bros. Discovery to release the director’s cut of Suicide Squad. The online campaign, which uses the hashtag #ReleaseTheAyerCut, began after multiple sources revealed the 2016 DC Extended Universe installment had been heavily edited in post-production. Ayer has since confirmed the reports, claiming his “unseen film plays much better than the studio release.” While new DC Studios co-head James Gunn hasn’t responded to fan demands to release Ayer’s version, the director stated that Gunn had told him that his version “would have [its] time to be shared.”
The Beekeeper opens in theaters on Jan. 12, 2024.
