Jason Statham tending bees and hitting people has helped turn The Beekeeper into an early 2024 box office hit. More here:

If you’re a regular reader of the site, you may have – correctly – got the impression that we were very, very fond of The Beekeeper.

As discussed in our review, it feels far more in keeping with the visceral films Jason Statham was making when his career was on the up. With David Ayer no slouch behind the camera and Kurt Wimmer’s script having more to it than it’s been given credit for, it’s a genuine January treat.

It’s also a film that’s managed to take advantage of a paucity of new January releases. The only big studio film to hit worldwide in January was Mean Girls, the one we’re not supposed to call a musical. That’s at $83m worldwide so far, and should brush past $100m soon.

The Beekeeper, ostensibly the kind of film that’s not supposed to find that much success at the box office, has already got there. An R-rated action movie in the US, it’s up to $42m in the States so far, jumping up to first place at the box office on its second week of release (albeit with no new wide releases). Add in the $61m it’s attracted around the rest of the planet, and the film’s take is at $104m.

UPDATE: This story originally ran at the end of January 2024, and wouldn’t you know it, The Beekeeper is still going. It’s now crossed $150m worldwide. $64m of that has come from the US, $86m from elsewhere on the planet.

Now granted, that’s not at Marvel levels. But this was a far more economical production, notably for being set in Boston but at one stage having a Tesco Express in the background (the movie was shot in the UK). As such, by the time The Beekeeper has concluded its business, it should be comfortably in profit. Furthermore, there was early talk of this being a franchise-starter. The Statham, after all, has more bees than he needs to tend to. Don’t be surprise to see sequel talk at this rate.

A nice early 2024 treat then, and one that offers some path for mid-range priced films looking to earn themselves a few quid in cinemas. More like this, please…