The Transporter (French: Le Transporteur) is a 2002 English-language French action film directed by Louis Leterrier and Corey Yuen[a] from a screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first installment in the Transporter franchise and stars Jason Statham in the title role, alongside Shu Qi, François Berléand and Matt Schulze. In the film, Frank Martin, a British mercenary driver living in France, finds himself involved in a human trafficking plot. The Transporter premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on October 2, 2002 and was first theatrically released in the United States on October 11, 2002 by 20th Century Fox, in France on 23 October by EuropaCorp, and in the UK on January 17, 2003.[6] It received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its action sequences and Statham's performance. It grossed $43.9 million worldwide and was followed by a sequel, Transporter 2, in 2005