Ji Li Highest Paid

Jet Li is now the highest paid Chinese action star in that film industry’s history. The famed martial arts star, who is well known internationally, has signed a deal that will net him 100 million yuan, or $13 million USD for his newest movie. There has been no other actor of a fully Chinese-language film to acquire such a deal, according to sources in Beijing.

The film, “The Warlords” is a huge cinematic undertaking on epic proportions costing $40 million. Half that budget went to casting alone that includes the aforementioned Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and actress/director Xu Jinglei.

“Without Jet Li, we would not dare to invest $40 million in a Chinese-language film,” stated director Peter Chan. “[Li was our] guarantee for global sales.”

Films out of China, since Hong Kong was returned to them several years ago, have shown substantial box office draw with such stars and directors like Li, Chow and Ang Lee. The most famous being Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and most recently “Curse of the Golden Flower,” starring Yun-Fat Chow and Li Gong under the direction of the famed Yimou Zhang.

“The Warlords,” is an epic tale based on the war-torn Qing Dynasty period. Look for it in Asian theaters next month and coming to the United States and Canada in March 2008.