Jason Statham is back for another action movie withA Working Man, and it could launch a massive franchise for him that keeps him busy for decades.Statham is no stranger to action movie franchisesafter doing multiple movies forFast & Furious,The Expendables,The Mechanic,Transporter, andCrank. His expertise in entertaining audiences through various violent means is one of the many reasons why he’s such an in-demand star. Audiences will next get to see Statham go to work in the upcoming action filmA Working Man.
There’s arguably even more anticipation for it after Statham turnedThe Beekeeperinto a massive hit. The movie made $162 million at the box office, andStatham is now confirmed to return forThe Beekeeper 2in the near future. However,A Working Mancould be another major success for him.The movie reteams Statham withThe Beekeeper’s director David Ayer. It’s another grounded action film with Statham playing a character seeking revenge for justifiable means.The Beekeeperhas solid franchise potential, butA Working Mancould be Statham’s next big thing.
Jason Statham’s A Working Man Is Based On A Massive Book Franchise
The Movie Was Originally Known As Levon’s Trade, Like The Book
A Working Manmight seem like another original action movie for Jason Statham and David Ayer, but the truth is that it’s an adaptation of a book series. The project was initially known asLevon’s Trade, the same name as the first book in a series written by Chuck Dixon.The book series follows the protagonist, Levon Cade, a retired counter-terrorism agentnow working a construction job. But he’s pulled back into the deadly world he left behind to save a local girl who is kidnapped. Despite the title change,A Working Manis a direct adaptation of this story.
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Levon’s Range
Chuck Dixon’sLevon’s Tradebook came out in 2014 and became a huge hit. This allowed Dixon to write several more installments about Levon Cade.There are eleven books in the Levon Cade series, with the most recent coming out in 2022. That gives Jason Statham, David Ayer, and Sylvester Stallone (who co-wrote the script with Ayer) a lot of source material to mine from to make even more movies - as long asA Working Manis a success.
It Will Take Jason Statham Decades To Turn All The Levon Cade Books Into Movies
Statham Could Play Levon Cade Until He’s Almost 80
There is no guarantee at this moment that Jason Statham will make multiple sequels toA Working Man. However, there is a clear road map to turn this story into a franchise thanks to Chuck Dixon’s books. The only potential conundrum for the possible franchise is that it will take decades to adapt all these books individually.The most optimistic outlook for the future would be for Statham to make a new installment in the franchise every other year. With ten additional books to adapt, it would take another 20 years for him to tackle each Levon Cade book individually.
Future installments could skip around to tackle different books or combine elements of multiple books into a single film
If Jason Statham does not want to play Levon Cade for decades, there is a potentially easy solution. WhileA Working Manis a complete adaptation of the first book, future installments could skip around to tackle different books or combine elements of multiple books into a single film. That could help condense Statham’s time commitment. Similarly, the sequels could radically depart from the source material to craft a different story and end Levon’s story earlier. That’s a decision to be made down the road ifA Working Manconnects with audiences.
How Successful A Working Man Needs To Be To Launch A New Jason Statham Franchise
Any Sequels Rely On A Strong Box Office First
In order forA Working Manto become a new franchise for Jason Statham, the movie will have to be a big enough success at the box office for Amazon MGM to greenlight more movies.It is currently not confirmed whatA Working Man’s budget is, which adds more uncertainty to the situation. The safe guess is that the movie has a similar budget asThe Beekeeper, which Statham and Ayer made for $40 million. After that movie proved to be so successful at the box office, there is a chance thatA Working Man’s budget is a bit higher.
Studios don’t typically make sequels to films that are financial disappointments
$50 million is likely the most thatA Working Mancost to make. That would meanthe film needs to make over $100 million at the box office for sequel discussions to begin. The general rule of thumb in Hollywood is that a movie needs to make around 2x or 2.5x its budget to breakeven and start turning a profit. Studios don’t typically make sequels to films that are financial disappointments after all. That won’t be a problem forA Working Manif it comes anywhere close to matchingThe Beekeeper’s $162 million box office haul.
If that does happen, then Statham should encounter no resistance when it comes to turningA Working Maninto a franchise. Amazon MGM should be delighted to greenlight a sequel or two (or ten) based on a similar result. The only real hiccup for Amazon and Statham could be figuring out how to continue the franchise amid the actor’s incredibly busy schedule.
Jason Statham’s Upcoming Action Movies Could Slow Down A Working Man’s Franchise Potential
He Has Other Movies In The Works First
Part of the reason whyA Working Manis poised for success is because Jason Statham has turned himself into a reliable action movie star at the box office. That has resulted in him having several movies in development.A busy schedule is great for Statham’s personal success and his bank account, but it does pose problems forA Working Manwhen it comes to outlining when sequels could be made.
He already hasMutiny, a new action film co-starring Annabelle Wallis, set for release afterA Working Man. His work onMutinyis already done ahead of its 2026 release, but he’ll still have a promotional tour to do next year.He’s now in the midst of prepping to makeThe Beekeeper 2and has also worked on an untitled action thriller from director Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland). There is even an expectation that he’ll take part inFast & Furious 11’s production whenever that actually gets off the ground.
With these different projects all in development and Hollywood certainly courting him for a variety of other roles too, Statham could have difficulty managingA Working Man’s franchise potential. That’s another reason why it’s unlikely he will adapt all eleven of the Levon Cade books. There simply is not enough time for him to do them all and also return to other established franchises and try to launch new ones, likeA Working Man.
