Jet Li Makes Bank

Chinese action star Jet Li (Romeo Must Die and Lethal Weapon 4) will score 100 million yuan ($13 million) for his latest movie, a record for an actor in a Chinese-language film, reports Reuters.

Nearly half of the $40 million budget for The Warlords went to the cast, among whom were Hong Kong heartthrobs Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

“Without Jet Li, we would not dare to invest $40 million in a Chinese-language film,” Xinhua news agency quoted director Peter Chan as saying.

The Warlords, a war epic based on a Qing Dynasty story, is slated for release in Asia in mid-December and in North America from next March.