Earlier than Jason Statham grew to become the motion hero we all know and love at this time, he was principally often called a supporting character in Man Ritchie movies. Lock, Inventory and Two Smoking Barrels launched the English actor to American audiences, whereas Snatch additional showcased his skills on the massive stage. His large break got here in 2002 when he was entrance and middle in an motion thriller that might go on to spawn two sequels. Grossing $238 million on the field workplace, the franchise was rebooted in 2015, and now, it is that try to relive the glory days that has discovered a brand new streaming house.
Kicking off in 2002, The Transporter stars Statham as Frank Martin, a former special-ops driver who makes a dwelling transporting mysterious packages with one strict rule: by no means open the cargo. When his curiosity finally will get the higher of him, Frank finds himself caught up in a human trafficking operation that forces him to make use of his distinctive set of expertise to deliver down a ruthless legal community.
Directed by Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen from a screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, The Transporter hit theaters on Oct. 11, 2002, and was a modest hit on the field workplace. Produced for $20 million, it managed to generate $43 million in ticket gross sales worldwide, which was sufficient to warrant a sequel. As such, Transporter 2 got here alongside three years later, adopted by Transporter 3 in 2008. After that, the sequence was dormant for seven years earlier than it was introduced again with a brand new main man, which spelled catastrophe for the sequence’ future.
‘The Transporter Refueled’ Was a Crucial Catastrophe
Now streaming on HBO Max, The Transporter Refueled did not begin out as a reboot. The thought was to proceed the saga with a complete new trilogy that might deliver again Statham’s character of Frank Martin. Sadly, negotiations with the star fell aside as a result of not solely did EuropaCorp need him to commit to a few films with out ever seeing scripts, however in addition they did not wish to pay him what he was value.
As an alternative of scrapping the entire thought, although, the producers moved ahead with a reboot, bringing Ed Skrein on board to painting a youthful model of Martin, thus making the film a prequel to the unique trilogy as properly. The outcome was a monetary windfall, as The Transporter Refueled took in $72 million worldwide towards a $22 million price range, bringing the franchise whole to $310 million.
Sadly, that is the place the success of The Transporter Refueled began and stopped. The movie was panned by just about everybody who noticed it. To at the present time, it holds only a 16% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and a Popcornmeter rating of 30%. So, whereas it could have been a monetary hit, the poor critiques killed any momentum the franchise had, placing an finish to future plans to make extra films.
What’s Subsequent for Jason Statham?
Now a bona fide motion star, Statham has not too long ago been seen in hits like Shelter, The Beekeeper, A Working Man, and the ridiculously enjoyable MEG sequence. At age 58, he reveals no indicators of slowing down anytime quickly, and he is received the itinerary to show it.
There are at least three movies on Statham’s plate proper now, together with The Beekeeper 2 and a brand new motion thriller titled Viva La Insanity, which is able to see The Stath reunite with Ritchie for his or her seventh collaboration collectively. Earlier than we get to all these, although, search for his latest film, Mutiny, to hit theaters on Aug. 21 of this 12 months.