Team Behind Jason Statham's Biggest Movie Remaking 98% RT-Rated Revenge Thriller

For multiple decades, Jason Statham has been a major draw at movie theaters. No matter what the genre, no matter what his role might be, any movie that stars Statham brings with it more attention, thanks to his ever-growing resume in the realm of action thrillers. His biggest earners at the box office are his movies in the Fast and Furious franchise, which include Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, and his spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. When it comes to franchises in which he was the focal point and that he helped launch, though, his top-grosser remains the shark movie The Meg.

Stars Collective Co-CEO Nancy Xu and Wayne Wei Jiang produced The Meg, and they also produced the recent Netflix hit The Rip, which starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The pair have found their next project, and while there are countless cases in which an international movie gets remade for American audiences, the new project sees an American movie getting a Mandarin remake.

As confirmed by Variety, a new remake of the 2024 movie Thelma is on the way. An entirely unconventional journey, Thelma stars June Squibb as the titular character who is financially taken advantage of due to her older age. When she realizes she was exploited, she refuses to let her age or any obstacles this creates get in her way, and she starts her quest for revenge. Thelma was a major hit with critics, as it went on to score 98% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

The remake is titled Grandma, Please, with Variety explaining of the remake, “An 80-year-old grandmother is swindled out of her life savings by a scammer who uses AI to clone her late husband’s voice. Rather than involve the police or worry her children, she decides to track down the culprit herself – a search that reunites her with an old flame from 60 years earlier, once a basketball team captain and now a resident of a care home. Their journey together turns into a road trip blending comedy with more emotional beats.”

“Thelma may have seemed like an unlikely action-comedy hit, but the movie really played intergenerationally and the audience reflected this,” Luo shared in a statement. “The story’s appeal extends beyond seniors, and we love the message the film sends – at any age, you can be the lead in your own life. We have an exciting vision for this reimagining and are excited to share it.”

Xu added, “Grandma, Please offers a fun genre premise with real social relevance beneath the comedy, and we feel this will translate to box office popularity.”

While the original Thelma may have merely appeared to rely on the juxtaposition of an older woman going on a revenge mission normally suited to a younger character, there was a lot of emotion behind the journey, based on how Thelma herself is treated by those closest to her. She might not have been exploited by her family, yet they often encourage her to just let the incident go, given the difficulty of tracking down the culprit. The movie itself highlighted the countless challenges faced by the elderly in everyday situations and the discrimination they suffer.

Production on Grandma, Please is set to kick off next year.