Jason Statham Won't Return for 'Transporter' Reboot, but Agrees to 'The Mechanic 2'

A few years ago Jason Statham starred in a reimagined version of Death Race, which saw him get behind the wheel as a masked tough-guy driver skilled at running over his opponents. The film was a modest hit, but when Statham wasn't going to come back for a sequel they continued the franchise in a series of prequels. The Expendables are what keep Statham relevant these days, but where he earned his reputation was in the Transporter series, which other than a dreadful TV series has been dormant since 2008's Transporter 3. That's about to change now with the announcement of a fourth film, but Statham won't be a part of it and the earlier Death Race model is back in play.

According to THR, Luc Besson's EuropaCorp has given the go-ahead on Transporter 4, only it'll happen with someone other than Statham in the lead. To that end, the plan is for this to be a reboot of sorts, a possible trilogy detailing the origin of Statham's Frank Martin character. So far there doesn't seem to be any plan to bring in Chris Vance, star of the TV series, into the big time. None of the first three movies were box office smashes but there's an expectation this reboot will perform better. The plan is for the final two movies to be Chinese co-productions and take advantage of the growing Chinese market.

So while Statham has said "no mas" to one franchise, he's agreeing to continue another. Arguably Statham's finest lead role to date was in 2011's remake of The Mechanic, which co-starred Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland. A sequel is now on the way with Statham set to return as elite hired gun Arthur Bishop. German director Dennis Gansel (The Wave) will take the reins from Simon West, and there's no word on if anybody else from the prior film will come back.

The Mechanic made just over $50M during its run, which looks like $500M compared to what Statham's movies have been doing lately.