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Up on Variety about a year ago, there was an interesting interview with the German distributor of the Expendables and John Wick movies. Fred Kogel, who runs Leonine Studios, noted that all the top action heroes now, Keanu Reeves, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, and Harrison Ford, are the same ones we had in the eighties and nineties. But with Stallone and Ford in their late seventies, who will be the new action stars when the icons are done with the genre? Liam Neeson’s action career can’t go on forever, and Bruce Willis has, sadly, had to retire. For his part, Kogel doesn’t believe distributors and studios have done enough to build up a new crop of action heroes, noting that for the older stars, there was “a great deal of identification with the type of the actor, with the physicality of the actor so that you could relate to that.

Plot: A special forces soldier who has given up country, religion, and even hope, must return to the field of battle to track down his niece, a reporter, caught in the middle of an illegal private contracting operation that went dead wrong.

Review: The political turmoil of Venezuela makes it the perfect setting for a political action thriller. The country has had such issues that the US government warns citizens not to travel there. So it allows a backdrop of corruption and violence while still keeping a grounded reality. Long Gone Heroes takes advantage of this and is able to provide a relevant story while not stepping on anyone’s toes, politically. This is a simple story about a group of “good guys” entering a war-torn country and saving a hostage. And it’s surprisingly good.

When it comes to these lower-budget action films, I never really know what I’m in for.

Mutiny is currently filming in UK, with Jason Statham starring and the director of Plane calling the shots. More here.

Jason Statham kicked off the year in some style with The Beekeeper. It remains one of the most fun films of 2024, as The Statham managed to kick seven shades of shit out of people, all while tending to his non-metaphorical hive. Sequels would be very much appreciated.

The Statham hasn’t been sitting back and counting the coins from The Beekeeper’s surprise box office success, though. He’s already reteamed with the director of that particular film, David Ayer, for Levon’s Trade. That’s based on a screenplay from Sylvester Stallone, and in turn on the book of the same name by Chuck Dixon. It’s set for release this coming January.

Now though, cameras are rolling on Mutiny, another action thriller that’s shooting in the UK. It...

Minnie Driver admitted that if Donald Trump were to be reelected in November, she “couldn’t” live in an American Republican-lead state.

The British actress, who lived in Los Angeles for 27 years before recently relocating to the U.K., was asked during an interview with The Times of London, published online Saturday, if she would consider returning to the U.S. if Trump defeats President Joe Biden.

“If I lived in a red [Republican] state, no, I couldn’t,” Driver said. “But living in California, you are somewhat insulated. But do you want to go and live in a bubble? Do you run away from the fire or do you go back and help?”

The Good Will Hunting star also candidly shared her thoughts on the former president following his conviction in his New York hush money trial in May.

“Of course he deserves to be in prison — of course he does,...

After living in Los Angeles for 27 years, Minnie Driver is now back living in London. But asked if she could ever live in the U.S. again if Donald Trump is re-elected president, the “Good Will Hunting” star said, “If I lived in a red state, no, I couldn’t.”

“But living in California, you are somewhat insulated,” the actor continued, in an interview with British publication The Times. “But do you want to go and live in a bubble? Do you run away from the fire or do you go back and help?”

Driver, speaking just days after Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial, said, “Of course he deserves to be in prison — of course he does. But just looking at how much money he raised in that two days, $53 million in a 48-hour period, and the idea that because the...

Jason Statham is someone who is admirably unpretentious and genuinely grateful for his success, and within that, he has a definite preference of films that can predominantly define his career. Earlier this year, Statham was seen in The Beekeeper, a seemingly usual action B-movie fare with the star, but the movie from Suicide Squad director David Ayer would throw in some bold conceptual curve balls to the normal vengeance tale. Deadline has now reported that Statham will be working with director Baltasar Kormákur for his next action film.

Kormákur’s resume features such credits as Contraband, 2 Guns, Everest and the recent Idris Elba lion attack film, Beast. According to Deadline, “In the currently untitled pic, Statham will play Mason who lives in isolation in a remote Scottish island. When he rescues a young girl from the ocean in a terrible storm, he sets a chain of events in motion...

Jason Statham is the kind of actorwhose mere presence defines the entire movie – or perhaps it’s that these productions, crafted specifically for him, can only truly be brought to life by him. Thus, The Beekeeper emerges as a film made by and for Jason Statham, where he once again slips into his signature role to do what he does best: demolish everything in sight, be it through kicks, gasoline barrels, or any object within reach.

The aim is simple: to entertain and to amuse, asking little from the viewer other than to enjoy a Jason Statham spectacle.

The Beekeeper Plot Overview

A woman falls victim to a scam and ends up taking her own life, unluckily on the property of a beekeeper who, coincidentally, is Jason Statham. Statham’s character has a unique way of dispensing justice: torching the offenders’ business. What follows is a series of angered responses,...

A24’s Alex Garland dystopian U.S. movie Civil War is looking at an $18 million-$24 million opening frame when it hits North American theaters over April 12-14.

In this oddball marketplace, ya gotta figure downside as we’re still limping away from the strike. While Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is eyeing a $45M opening this weekend, I hear presales on that title are low. If that Jason Reitman-produced movie is going to hit the mid-$40M range, it really needs a big turnout by Latino moviegoers and walk-ups.

Further boosting projections on Civil War is A24’s grab of Imax screens. The current Rotten Tomatoes critics score on Civil War following its electric SXSW world premiere is 91% fresh.

“A24 has a hit on their hands,” beamed a rival studio distribution boss. The movie starring Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny has a strong definite interest among older males, followed by older...

It’s unsurprising that Adam Sandler’s “Spaceman” is an immediate #1 for Netflix, but you have to wonder if the Sandler audience knew what it was getting: It’s the story of a long-distance solo astronaut who encounters loneliness and a mutant spider on his journey to Venus. Directed by Johan Renck, who won a DGA Award for his direction of HBO miniseries “Chernobyl,” it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Reviews are mediocre and, per Netflix practice, it had token one-week showings in limited theaters. “Spaceman: debuted on the streamer March 1 and it will be interesting to see what kind of hold it maintains. For now, it’s another example of how Sandler uses his Netflix deal to expand his scope. (The film was produced by Channing Tatum’s Free Association.)

The film costars Carey Mulligan, currently a Best Actress Oscar nominee for another Netflix original, “Maestro.

Dakota Johnson and Henry Cavill’s big box office releases of 2024 were major misses at the theaters. Despite its ensemble cast, Cavill’s film with Matthew Vaughn, Argylle, bombed at the box office. Dakota Johnson, on the other hand, tried her hands at the superhero genre with Madame Web but failed miserably and her film gained the new title of ‘worst comic book movie of all time’. Despite potentially losing millions for the studios, these films are currently among the top 5 movies of 2024.

Top 5 films of 2024 so far – The Beekeeper, Mean Girls, Bob Marley: One Love, Argylle, and Madame Web

Jason Statham’s John Wick-style film, The Beekeeper, turned out to be the better performer at the box office among the releases this year. The surprising entries in this top 5 list were Tina Fey’s musical version of Mean Girls and the biographical film, Bob Marley: One Love.

Dakota...

As Hollywood claws back revenue after the pandemic plunge, an eclectic mix of films has emerged as early 2024’s biggest box office hits. Topping the list is the action thriller The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham, which has buzzed to $143 million globally. Coming in second is the musical adaptation Mean Girls featuring breakout star Angourie Rice.

Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa in Argylle (2024)

Rounding out the top five are the music biopic Bob Marley: One Love with Kingsley Ben-Adir, spy caper Argylle packed with big names like Henry Cavill, and Dakota Johnson’s first turn as Marvel anti-hero Madame Web. While rebooting popular brands in new formats, these top-grossing titles have lured audiences back to theaters in a bid to revitalize the film industry’s fortunes after years of Covid-related losses.

Jason Statham Action Flick Tops 2024 Box Office As Moviegoing Rebounds

Jason Statham in The Beekeeper

SUGGESTED3 Upcoming Films Including ‘Dune 2...

Updated: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love brought folks together around the world in its opening frame, singing up a sweet estimated $80M global bow. After coming on strong in early overseas play this week, and as audiences turned a deaf ear to critics, the international box office portion of that is $29M, landing well ahead of expectations.

The Reinaldo Marcus Green-directed biopic is out in 47 overseas markets and on a like-for-like basis including previews is 14% above Elvis and 12% above Rocketman for the same grouping, making it the second biggest music biopic opening behind only Bohemian Rhapsody.

Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, currently attending the BAFTA Film Awards here in London, Bob Marley: One Love opened at No. 1 in 13 markets and set new opening-day records for a music biopic in the UK and France among others.

In Jamaica, it now holds the record for the biggest film opening of all time.

(L to R) Director David Ayer and actor Jason Statham on the set of The Beekeeper. An Amazon MGM Studios film

Photo Credit: Daniel Smith © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. When you consider how well-known Jason Statham is now, it’s a bit shocking to realize that he didn’t make his first movie until he was already in his 30s. Prior to that, he had a pretty interesting and eclectic life, one that included modelling, athletics, and even dancing in some music videos. David Ayer, who directed Statham in his latest movie, The Beekeeper, believes that Statham’s background makes him a more compelling figure on the screen. (Click on the media bar below to hear David Ayer) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/David_Ayer_Jason_Statam_The_Bee_Keeper_.mp3 The Beekeeper is now playing in theaters.

The post ‘Beekeeper’ Director Says Jason Statham’s Past...

Another low-wattage weekend is hot on the heels of last weekend’s disappointing opening for Matthew Vaughn’s would-be franchise starter, Argylle. Typically, studios are wary of putting out any major movies on Super Bowl weekend, as virtually no one goes to movies on game day. That said, there have been exceptions to the rule, with Taken and Chronicle both being big openers way back in the day. In recent years, though, the numbers have been more modest, with Death on the Nile taking in $12.8 million in 2022 and Magic Mike’s Last Dance cratering with a measly $8.3 million opening last year.

This weekend’s sole wide new release, Lisa Frankenstein, isn’t likely to do much better. Initially, Box Office Pro had it opening anywhere from $7-12 million, but the early reviews have been abysmal, and now the opening is pegged from anywhere between $5-9 million. Given that it only has a $14 million budget,...

Cat’s out of the bag — “Argylle” is shaping up to be the first high-profile box office misfire of 2024. The espionage action-comedy only saw $6.5 million in ticket sales from 3,605 North American venues across opening day and preview screenings. That is not a good start for a presumed crowdpleaser with a star-studded ensemble and a massive $200 million production budget.

The Apple Studios production represents the company’s third recent wide release in North America, this time partnering with Universal to have the traditional studio handle distribution. It’s also another flexing financial swing for the tech giant, matching the massive price tags of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Napoleon.” Both of those films didn’t exactly ignite the box office last fall — Martin Scorsese’s Western has reached $156 million globally, while Ridley Scott’s war film fared better with $219 million. But both epics successfully signaled that Apple has entered the prestige business,...

After a few weeks without any studio wide releases, Apple Original Films’ $200M Argylle via Universal is hoping to entice moviegoers back, but it won’t be in a big way. Last night’s previews for the PG-13 Matthew Vaughn directed action movie made $1.7M, which is below the $2.4M previews clocked by Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper a few weeks ago. That movie posted a $16.5M opening, so any hope that Argylle will get to that $20M+ some exhibitors were seeing — I don’t think so.

Argylle was booked at 3,100 theaters last night and has all the cinema upcharges this weekend of Plf and Imax, etc. Reviewers at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes already are screaming ‘Don’t Go’. This despite the fact that the Marv, Cloudy production has an all-star cast of Henry Cavill, John Cena, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Grammy winning pop superstar Dua Lipa, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston,...

Image: Netflix January is always a challenging month for moviegoing, and this January was particularly tough sledding, what with the impact of the actor’s and writer’s strikes taking a steep toll on an already-limited schedule of theatrical releases. Still, there were some hits scattered among the misses, including Mean Girls,...

Worldwide Box Office Update Of Ayalaan & Captain Miller (Photo Credit – IMDb/YouTube)

Sivakarthikeyan’s Ayalaan and Dhanush‘s Captain Miller have now slowed down miserably at the worldwide box office. Both films did well during the Pongal festivities, but after that, the pace hasn’t been up to the mark, and currently, both are on the verge of ending their theatrical runs. But before wrapping up, both films might achieve a cumulative milestone. Keep reading to know more!

Released ahead of the Pongal holidays, both films were released on 12th January and opened to generally positive reviews from critics. Even the audience feedback has been favorable. It all helped during the initial run, but later, numbers failed to sustain during weekdays, eventually leading to just about a fair to decent run.

Ayalaan at the worldwide box office

Ayalaan was mainly aimed at attracting children along with family audiences, and from that point of view,...

Plot: When a ninety-four-year-old grandmother is ripped off by phone scammers for $10k, she goes on a mission to get her money back.

Review: Watching Thelma is a bittersweet experience. While led by the always delightful June Squibb, the film co-stars the late Richard Roundtree in his meatiest role in years. Between this and the recent Jane Fonda movie Moving On, Roundtree was on the verge of the comeback that long-eluded him, only for him to die suddenly at 81 in the fall. It’s a shame because the former Shaft star is a delight in this low-key caper flick.

It offers a long overdue leading role to the great June Squibb. At ninety-four, the actress has been in high demand in recent years, seemingly still sharp as a tack. In Thelma, she plays the title role, being a doting Grandmother pushing back at the notion that she’s too old to live independently.

Monday Am: Turns out that high holy day of NFL yesterday which resulted in the Chiefs and the 49ers heading to the Super Bowl did pull guys away from Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper. While the Jason Statham Miramax title did win Saturday over Paramount’s Mean Girls, $3.4M to $3.27M, Sunday belonged to the Plastics which saw the teen musical movie pull ahead with a third weekend of $6.9M to Beekeeper‘s $6.7M.

Mean Girls‘ Sunday was $1.7M, -48% from Saturday, while Beekeeper‘s take was $1.48M. Worldwide, Beekeeper crossed $100M ($41.5M domestic), while Mean Girls stands at $83M ($60.4M from domestic).

This weekend, Apple Original Films’ Matthew Vaughn directed all-star spy ensemble, Argylle, looks to open in the teens. More on that later.

Sunday Am: Boring weekends always make for intense times at the box office, and this morning, Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper is looking to steal...

Worldwide box office January 26-28 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world) 3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Fighter (various) $24.6m $25.1m $20.8m $20.8m 23 2. Anyone But You (Sony) $19m $126.6m $14.2m $55.4m 49 3. The Beekeeper (MGM) $18.3m $104.2m $10.9m $61.9m 62 4. Wonka (Warner Bros)

$13.7m $552.1m $7.8m $356.9m 78 5. Poor Things (Disney) $13m $51.1m $10m $26.3m 37 6. Johnny Keep Walking! (various) $12.5m $154.6m $12.3m $154.1m 8 7. Mean Girls (Paramount) $11.6m $83.4m $4.3m $22.6m 23 8. Migration (Universal) $10.4m $206.1m $5.2m $104.9m 77 9. Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (Warner Bros) $9.8m $412.7m $7m $294.7m 79 10. Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom (various) $8.9m $8.9m $8.9m $8.9m 1

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

We’re still in a holdover pattern for Hollywood at the global and international box office, though milestones continue to be reached on an offshore and worldwide basis for existing releases. Meanwhile, Anyone But You saw an uptick overseas and drops were good for others (including newly-minted Oscar nominees). One new local entry, India’s Fighter, flew to the top of the global weekend chart.

Among the latest Hollywood titles to hit a new benchmark, Miramax’s The Beekeeper buzzed past the $100M mark worldwide, Illumination/Universal’s Migration flew across $200M and Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom topped $400M (see more detail below).

In significant new local play, Viacom 18/Marflix’s Hindi aviation actioner Fighter, from Pathaan director Siddharth Anand and starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, is looking at a $25.1M start globally (including $4.3M from North America), per comScore. As ever, concrete...

The Beekeeper is claiming victory over Mean Girls at the weekend box office with an estimated $7.4 million from 3,337 theaters, but the Jason Statham-led action pic can’t bring home the honey just yet.

Rival studios show the two movies in a dead heat, while Paramount is claiming victory with $7.3 million from 3,544 locations. The rightful order will be decided Monday when final grosses for the Jan. 27-29 frame are tallied. One advantage for Mean Girls: Sunday’s two NFL championship games will pose tough competition for Beekeeper.

If Statham’s pic prevails, it will be the first time it has beat Mean Girls and topped the domestic chart.

Both films are in their third weekend, and their domination underscores the worrisome situation facing cinema operators as the production pipeline slows to a trickle because of production delays due to last year’s strikes. It is the second weekend in...

On Thursday, we predicted that this weekend would look the same as the previous two weekends with the only shake up coming by way of the fourth and fifth spot (Migration and Anyone But You) switching positions. Well, there may be another position switch as currently Mean Girls and The Beekeeper are locked in an epic battle of wills where each film is currently looking at first place with around $6.4 million in projected weekend grosses.

That would be quite the feat for the Jason Statham/ David Ayer pairing. In a world where R rated action films not named John Wick tend to underperform before fading to obscurity, The Beekeeper has the opportunity to take first place in its third week of release. The film actually has tasted that victory before as just this past week it landed on the top of the charts for several days. It is for that...

Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, the suspense thriller Blink Twice (formerly known as Pussy Island), is getting a global theatrical release from Amazon MGM Studios. It will hit cinemas August 23.

In the movie, written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, and sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.

Pic also stars Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater,...

Every New Year brings headlines of all the new movies hitting theaters that year that excite people. Most of those titles come from the summer and winter months, with a few mentions for spring release movies. Do you know what month has almost no mention in those articles? January! There are several reasons for that. First, January generally sees strong holdover numbers from the big Holiday blockbusters that many studios tend to steer clear of. However, the holidays of 2023 didn’t produce an Avatar: The Way of Water-sized hit the way 2022 did. To be fair, it did produce Wonka, which may not be a near $700 million domestic grosser, but it has still shown some solid numbers over the past few weeks. Second, NFL playoffs. There is simply no other event that commands Americans’ attention more than the run-up to the Super Bowl, a television event that nearly every year...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBreathless.The Mubi Podcast returns on January 25. Titled “Tailor Made,” the fifth season will consider landmark movies that captured major fashions of their times—from Jean Seberg in Breathless to Sofia Coppola’s body of work to date—with insights from leading costume designers, fashion designers, cinematographers, and directors.Alongside the announcement of the Competition and Encounters sections, with the addition of new films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Ruth Beckermann, and more, we’ve updated our Berlinale lineup post ahead of the festival’s commencement on February 15.June Givanni, a writer on and curator of African and African diasporic cinema and the founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is to be recognized by BAFTA with an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema...

Sunday Am Writethru: There’s not much going on at the weekend box office. Yes, point fingers at the dual strikes’ impact on the theatrical schedule. But it’s also January, which typically counts a couple of the year’s lowest-grossing weekends. The 3-day for all titles is looking at $68M, which is not only the first weak weekend of the New Year, but 8% off the same frame a year ago, which did $72.4M. Per Box Office Mojo, the first two weekends of January grossed $85.7M and $97M, respectively.

While Sundance — with the celebration of indie cinema and discovery of new filmmakers — rages on in Park City, Ut, there’s never really been any correlation between what’s going on in Park City and what’s playing on national marquees, though pre-Covid, we’ve seen films perform significantly better in late January. Last year at this time, Avatar: The Way of Water,...

Jason Statham stars as Clay in director David Ayer’s The Beekeeper.

An Amazon MGM Studios film Photo Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

© 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Beekeeper is now playing in international territories.. Both the studio and the movie’s star, Jason Statham, are banking on its international appeal to make the film a blockbuster, and Statham says he thinks The Beekeeper has exactly the kind of story that can be understood regardless of where they might live. (Click on the media bar below to hear Jason Statham) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jason_Statham_Global_Appeal_The_BeeKeeper_.mp3 The Beekeeper is now playing in theaters.

The post Jason Statham Sees ‘Beekeeper’ Story Working Anywhere In The World appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

The Beekeeper Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, Phylicia Rashad, Jemma Redgrave, and Minnie Driver

Director: David Ayer

The Beekeeper Movie Review Is Out! (Picture Credit: IMDb)

What’s Good: Jason Statham being Jason Statham

What’s Bad: It over-promises on its selling point, i.e., the action, but under-delivers at almost every level

Loo Break: Whenever you don’t see Jason Statham doing Jason Statham things

Watch or Not?: With zero expectations while having a Sunday dinner after you fail to find anything to watch

Language: English

Available On: Theatrical Release

Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

User Rating:

Adam Clay is a Beekeeper, not the regular one who is just in for the honey; he’s the protector of the ‘hive’ – a masterfully skilled assassin secretly appointed by the United States. He’s someone who can go ‘John Wick’ even on...

When it comes to action, I’ve always had an appreciation for Mr. Jason Statham. Even in a less-than-stellar flick, he’s always fun to watch. And thankfully, his latest brought the entertainment in a big way (our Eic loved it). The Beekeeper has terrific action and a lot of humor and it is skillfully directed by David Ayer with a script by Kurt Wimmer. If you are looking for an escape, this is the perfect movie to do it with. The impressive cast includes Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, Phylicia Rashad, Jemma Redgrave, and Minnie Driver.

Recently, I had a terrific time speaking with Mr. Ayer and Mr. Hutcherson. It was a thrill to talk to David as I’m an admirer of his work. He discussed taking on the project, and finding a little more of the funny this time around. As well, he spoke on the terrific work of Phylicia Rashad.

Led by the musical adaptation of “Mean Girls” (Paramount) and a healthy assist from this year’s Martin Luther King Birthday weekend’s action release “The Beekeeper” (Amazon MGM), grosses nearly matched the same period last year. However, that’s likely the best we’ll see for a while. Theaters will wait until at least March, with its potentially strong franchise/sequel releases, for a better indication of whether 2024 will be as grim as suggested.

The weekend also featured several top awards contenders led by “Poor Things” (Searchlight) in advance of potential Oscar nominations. With a weaker release schedule ahead, these films have the opportunity for better-than-average upticks with plentiful screen availability.

“Mean Girls” was #1 with $28 million, while “The Beekeeper” with Jason Statham took second with a little under $17 million. Both are non-franchise titles and cost $40 million or less. However, both grossed under the respective top two of MLK weekend...

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka continues its sweet run, crossing the $500M mark globally this weekend. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $505.3M including $329.1M from the international box office — and with Korea, which has a fondness for Hollywood musicals, still to release at the end of the month.

The Timothée Chalamet-starrer added $15.3M in 77 overseas markets this frame with another series of terrific holds in Spain (-1%), Australia (-36%), Mexico (-36%), the UK (-43%) and Brazil (-44%).

Crossing the five-century benchmark also makes Wonka director Paul King’s highest-grossing film ever. Wonka originally opened internationally beginning December 6, 2023 and in North America on December 15, 2023.

WB Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy commented today, “With Wonka, Paul King, producer David Heyman and the amazing cast and crew led by Timothée Chalamet have delivered a truly special musical event.

Renny Harlin’s The Bricklayer is a ton of fun. It’s gotten a low-key release and has been overshadowed by the (excellent) Beekeeper, but the film is a bit of a hidden gem. Harlin gives it an old-school 80s/90s vibe, making it the best pure action vehicle star Aaron Eckhart’s ever had. I recently had the chance to talk over the phone with Eckhart about the film and his unique approach to making action movies.

Note – the conversation has been edited for clarity.

So nice to talk to you, Aaron. I’ve always been a huge fan of yours, and I really enjoyed The Bricklayer. I thought the action was great, and Renny Harlin really is a pro. I’ve spoken to him a few times over the years, and he’s a great guy, too.

Well, I agree with you. I, I love Rennie as well.

Josh Hutcherson Reflects On Losing The Amazing Spider-Man To Andrew Garfield (Picture Credit: IMDb)

The Hunger Games is a successful franchise that gave Jennifer Lawrence massive fame and popularity. Besides Jen, Josh Hutcherson was also praised for his performance and was a part of the main cast in the film series. But before landing the role of Peeta Mellark, he auditioned for Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in The Amazing Spider-Man, but it eventually went to Andrew Garfield.

Marc Webb directed the 2012 film starring Andrew and Emma Stone in the lead, and it had a sequel in 2014. However, it wasn’t continued after two installments while Garfield reprised as the web-slinging superhero in 2021 in Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man: No Way Home and became a part of the MCU. After the MCU film’s release, people started demanding the makers revive his solo franchise, but there is hardly any news. Scroll below for more.

Numbers have begun rolling in for the weekend and seem to be pretty much in line with our predictions from Thursday as the remake/ Broadway adaptation Mean Girls is looking at a lucrative weekend of around $30 million with its 4-day gross in the $33 million range (as Monday is the holiday Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States). Despite some moderate love from critics, the film is seeing a just okay B cinemascore and an audience score of 71% which still is positive, but not as high as new releases tend to be when audiences genuinely enjoy a film.

Our own Tyler Nichols said this 2024 version improved on the original in several ways in his 7/10 review. This is one review where Mr. Nichols and I are in total disagreement. I found this new Mean Girls to be a pale shot for shot remake of the original, recycling all of the...

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse in Back To Black Photo: Focus Features Here’s why you know that song from Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s hilarious Golden Globes bitWhether you know it or not, you’ve most likely heard a piece of music written by Kevin MacLeod. If you...

Jason Statham knows a thing or two about action movies, having starred in more than a few of them throughout his career, and he even schooled The Beekeeper director David Ayer when it comes to the genre.

“He schooled me,” David Ayer told /Film. “I mean, let’s be real: He’s an action icon, and he’s probably forgotten more about action than I know. He really raised my game. He really helped me get under the hood of, what is action? How does it work? And he has this encyclopedic knowledge of, like, literally every punch ever thrown on film. So when you present him with choreography, [he’ll say], ‘No, I did that in this movie, I saw that in this, I saw that in that.’ And then his sense of self and how he presents on camera is impeccable, and you have to support that and then build around that.

Plot: In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers”.

Review: Over the last two decades, Jason Statham has built himself a nice little corner of the action genre. Whatever situation he’s put into, it’s almost a guarantee that he’ll kick some ass on his way out of it. This latest action outing sees Statham playing a Beekeeper; a man deadset on revenge after his friend is taken advantage of financially. One of the brilliant elements is how much of the heavy lifting for the film is done in such simplified ways. Want to set up a villain that the entire audience will hate? Well here are some bad guys who take money from vulnerable old people. The perfect people to want to see get their comeuppance.

Photograph by Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc./Daniel Smith Considering Jason Statham is its star, it’s not surprising that The Beekeeper is an action movie. And according to Statham, the film ups the ante for Hollywood in terms of action and stunts. Statham gives credit to director David Ayers and the movie’s stunt team for creating and executing The Beekeeper’s striking stunt sequences. (Click on the media bar below to hear Jason Statham) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Jason_Statham_The_Bee_Keeper_.mp3 The Beekeeper is now playing in theaters.

The post Jason Statham: ‘Beekeeper’ Raises The Bar For Stunt Work appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Spoiler Alert: This article discusses mild plot points in the new movie “The Beekeeper.”

David Ayer’s new film “The Beekeeper” is an action movie extravaganza that’s reminiscent of the best Schwarzenegger and Stallone flicks of the ’80s. Jason Statham stars as Adam Clay, a man who seeks vengeance on the call center that scams one of his friends (played by Phylicia Rashad). Unfortunately for the criminals, led by nepo baby tech bro Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), Statham has a secret past that makes him an ass-kicking machine.

Ayer and Hutcherson broke down our burning questions about this blood and honey-soaked extravaganza.

Why did you want to take on “The Beekeeper” as your next action movie?

David Ayer: It was an opportunity to work with Jason. The script itself had the magic elements, like a story that has amazing twists and a sense of heart that is hard to find in these movies.

We all have the inherent understanding that our lives are part of a larger system, an infrastructure that's not only the one humanity has constructed for itself but the one that's existed for many more thousands of years: the natural ecosystem of the planet that we live on. However, it seems that our goal as human beings has been to implicitly make our lives more relaxed, more convenient, and more catered to our every whim, with little care or understanding for how it affects everything around us.

Case in point: the honey bee. While it's general knowledge that bees are a vital part of our ecosystem and their populations are declining (due in large part to climate change), it's also true that not enough is being done to help stop it. The action genre, when boiled down to its core essence, is about overcoming injustice: whether action heroes are on...

The actor stays in the same lane to play a trained killer taking down the bad guys in David Ayer’s enjoyably silly time-waster

If you’re not in the market for what David Ayer is forcefully selling in batty January thriller The Beekeeper at the point when someone says to the titular character, “To bee or not to bee, that is the bloody question,” then you might as well just give up and walk out. By this stage, late in the film, Ayer and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer have given us just about enough bee puns, bone cracks and bizarre cameos from British actors to give those in the right headspace (read: drunk) a solid, low-stakes, medium-reward new year’s effort. I can’t imagine a devoted Beekeeper hive emerging any time soon (it’s far too derivative and far too rough around the edges), but there’s enough energy...

With last weekend’s Night Swim failing to garner the type of numbers other horror films have seen in January and landing in the second place spot to the holiday juggernaut that is Wonka, this weekend should finally see the first new number one movie of 2024. The question is: will it be the remake/ broadway adaptation Mean Girls or the Jason Statham revenge tale The Beekeeper?

It’s going to be Mean Girls. It wasn’t really much of a question if I am being honest. Mean Girls should easily land on top of the weekend box office as it is based off a property that is still very much in the zeitgeist. Twenty years ago SNL head writer Tina Fey brought to screens an adaptation of the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. That book was more of a straight laced “how to” book for parents about...

Exhibitors are lighting candles and saying prayers that Paramount’s feature musical redux Mean Girls carries them big-time throughout January after a dry spell caused by the double strikes. Ya see, for the next three weeks following Mean Girls, there isn’t a major studio wide release until Apple Original Films’ Argylle arrives on February 2 via Universal.

On tracking, Mean Girls is excellent with women, and poised to clear $30 million over the four-day MLK weekend at 3,782 theaters. Meanwhile, Amazon MGM Studios’ R-rated Jason Statham action title The Beekeeper, solid with men and multicultural audiences, is looking at $16M Friday-Monday.

‘The Beekeeper’

Comscore reported that the first week of 2024 box office at $172.6M was lagging 8% behind the same frame in 2023. However, last year’s MLK weekend will be hard to beat: It was led by the fifth frame of 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water with $39.8M, and the...

It’s the time of year for smooth-brained relaxation. Moviegoers can recover from the holidays with the comfort of knowing Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson, or Jason Statham will be here to satisfy their mid-budget, action-programmer needs. Is it really the new year if one of those cherished Kings of January doesn’t appear on the release slate? There’s no Gerry or Liam, but the ever-reliable Statham dons a trucker hat and blue jeans to grit his way through David Ayer’s The Beekeeper, an overall valiant, occasionally fun attempt to take us out of Q1 doldrums.

As Adam Clay, Statham is both a beekeeper and a BeekeeperTM––a retiree once tasked with operating outside the Intelligence community’s normal chain of command in order to “protect the hive” from chaos and corruption. Adam’s landlady (Phylicia Rashad), who rents her barn for his titular pastime, has her finances wiped out in a phishing scam,...

Jason Statham in The Beekeeper Photo: Amazon MGM Studios In The Beekeeper, Jason Statham plays, as you may well have surmised, a beekeeper. When we first meet him, this beekeeper is the stoic kind, unconcerned with the world beyond his hive. Even the woman who’s renting him a barn...

“The Beekeeper” is the best kind of bad movie — which is to say, it’s the sort that puts entertainment ahead of pretentiousness, embracing the laughter sure to accompany such an unapologetically stupid, ultra-violent premise. Starring Jason Statham in what feels like a parody of Jason Statham movies, this conspiracy-fueled action showcase tortures its central metaphor until it can only be seen as a joke, featuring the “Transporter” star as ruthless, retired government assassin-turned-benevolent beekeeper Adam Clay, who’s pushed back into berserker mode after a phishing attack targets the kindly old woman from whom he rents a barn.

If you don’t get a hearty belly laugh out of watching Statham scowl his way through the opening montage, in which Clay is shown collecting honey and tending his hives on a bucolic country estate while landlady Eloise (Phylicia Rashad) falls for a blatantly fishy online scam, then “The Beekeeper” is probably not for you.

If you were concerned there wouldn’t be enough unsubtle apiculture metaphors for meting out justice via hellacious ass-whooping in The Beekeeper, you can relax. Even if director David Ayer remains in his usual mode of glowering self-seriousness, whenever Jason Statham snarls about “protecting the hive” or “smoking out the hornets” or “killing the queen,” you get an inkling of how much fun this violent revenge thriller might have been in more playful hands. Still, watching the bullet-headed action star take down squads of government agents and thuggish mercenaries alike, mostly while unarmed, is fun enough. Probably even more so in Imax.

In a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer that’s nothing if not literal, Statham plays Adam Clay, a retired field operative from a top-secret national security force designed to step in and restore order whenever some nefarious criminal situation gets out of hand. Even though he’s no longer a “Beekeeper,...

From penning Training Day (2001) to helming the one-two punch of End of Watch (2012) and Fury (2014), David Ayer has had the film industry in the palm of his hand on a couple of different occasions.

Following the success of the latter, he then punched his own ticket to the Dceu, opting to write and direct Suicide Squad as a supervillain take on The Dirty Dozen. The film would star the likes of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Will Smith’s Deadshot and Jared Leto’s Joker, but despite one of the most celebrated trailers of all time at 2015’s San Diego Comic-Con, the subsequent poor reception to Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and the adulation for Tim Miller’s irreverent Deadpool (2016) caused Warners to panic and retool Squad on the fly.

What resulted was a bake-off between the studio’s cut and Ayer’s cut, and the...