Jet Li is easily among the legendary list of action stars in the world of Martial Arts films. Is it any wonder that any film with him involved is considered instantly bankable funds?
In this recent statement from Reuters we see just how important he is:
Chinese action star Jet Li is set to rake in 100 million yuan ($13 million) for his latest movie, a record for an actor in a Chinese-language film, state media reported on Sunday.
Nearly half of the $40 million budget for “The Warlords” went to the cast, among whom were Hong Kong heartthrob Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Beijing-based actress and director Xu Jinglei, in addition to Li.
I bring this up mostly because I get excited to see Jet Li in anything, but also because of the “insane” amount of money they are spending on him in this film.
It is a RECORD for him to be getting paid $13million dollars. And he is the banking star of the film.
In North American films where hacks like Chris Tucker can make $25million a film and have very little talent (I did like him in Fifth Element) and other stars who have lost their instant cash value are still asking for more than Li is getting for films.
With all this talk about how much money a star is worth, and the writers getting severely underpaid it surprises me that the Chinese market considers this a record to offer a star THAT MUCH money to be in a movie. They are spending $40 million to get this movie made. And with stars like Li involved it is sure to see worldwide release and potential success.
So how is it that they can make a film for $40m (a record) and release it around the world and still have high potential as a success when it costs Hollywood $54million to make Gigli.
