Jason Statham's First Action Movie After $162 Million Hit Could Keep Him Busy For The Next 20+ Years

Jason Statham is back for another action movie with A Working Man, and it could launch a massive franchise for him that keeps him busy for decades. Statham is no stranger to action movie franchises after doing multiple movies for Fast & Furious, The Expendables, The Mechanic, Transporter, and Crank. 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 film A Working Man.

There's arguably even more anticipation for it after Statham turned The Beekeeper into a massive hit. The movie made $162 million at the box office, and Statham is now confirmed to return for The Beekeeper 2 in the near future. However, A Working Man could be another major success for him. The movie reteams Statham with The Beekeeper's director David Ayer. It's another grounded action film with Statham playing a character seeking revenge for justifiable means. The Beekeeper has solid franchise potential, but A Working Man could 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 Man might 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 as Levon'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 agent now 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 Man is a direct adaptation of this story.

Levon Cade Book	Release
Levon's Trade	2014
Levon's Night	2015
Levon's Ride	2015
Levon's Run	2016
Levon's Kin	2017
Levon's War	2018
Levon's Time	2019
Levon's Home	2020
Levon's Hunt	2021
Levon's Prey	2022
Levon's Range	2022

Chuck Dixon's Levon's Trade book 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 as A Working Man is 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

Jason Statham holding a grenade in A Working Man

There is no guarantee at this moment that Jason Statham will make multiple sequels to A 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. While A Working Man is 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 if A Working Man connects 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 for A Working Man to 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 what A Working Man's budget is, which adds more uncertainty to the situation. The safe guess is that the movie has a similar budget as The 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 that A 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 that A Working Man cost to make. That would mean the 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 for A Working Man if it comes anywhere close to matching The Beekeeper's $162 million box office haul.

If that does happen, then Statham should encounter no resistance when it comes to turning A Working Man into 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

Jason Statham looking intense in The Beekeeper

Part of the reason why A Working Man is 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 for A Working Man when it comes to outlining when sequels could be made.

He already has Mutiny, a new action film co-starring Annabelle Wallis, set for release after A Working Man. His work on Mutiny is 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 make The Beekeeper 2 and has also worked on an untitled action thriller from director Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland). There is even an expectation that he'll take part in Fast & 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 managing A 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, like A Working Man.