The Chinese press has been all over the story of Jet Li's paycheck on Peter Chan's upcoming THE WARLORDS like ants on a sugar cake this week. Revealing that approximately half of the movie's $40 million budget went to the cast, it was also announced that Jet Li's slice of that pie was $13 million. After shedding a tear for Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro and the hundreds of extras who have to split a measly $7 million between them, move on to the fact that this is an acknowledgment that Jet Li is the world's most bankable Chinese actor with this record-breaking salary.

Chow Yun-fat fell out of the running years ago after a string of American snoozers like ANNA AND THE KING, BULLETPROOF MONK and THE CORRUPTOR. None of these movies were bad, but none of them set the Western box office on fire. Andy Lau is huge across Asia and is still a sure bet in Hong Kong, and probably China as well, but he's almost totally unknown in the West and in today's world of multinational, co-financed pictures you need someone who can draw in audiences globally. Jackie Chan was the only other serious contender but his reputation has, deservedly, taken a hit after he appeared in a long list of sub-par movies. I'm a huge fan of Jackie Chan but when an actor who's famous for his perfectionism turns out a string of stomach-churners like THE TUXEDO, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, THE MYTH and THE MEDALLION you can't expect him to emerge unscathed. Jet Li hasn't exactly made a string of great movies in the West (UNLEASHED is probably the best of the bunch and it died at the box office) but he's got a big presence, and a solid fan base. So let's break down the numbers.

 JACKIE CHAN IN THE WEST SINCE 2000
SHANGHAI NOON $56 million domestic, $42 million foreign
LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER - $11 million domestic
RUSH HOUR 2 - $226 million domestic, $121 million foreign
THE TUXEDO - $50 million domestic, $53 million foreign
SHANGHAI KNIGHTS - $60 million domestic, $27 million foreign
THE MEDALLION - $22 million domestic, $12 million foreign
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS - $24 million domestic, $48 million foreign
RUSH HOUR 3 - $140 million domestic, $114 million foreign
TOTAL: $589 million domestic, $417 million foreign
Jackie has grossed $172 million more in the US than overseas since 2000

JET LI IN THE WEST SINCE 2000
ROMEO MUST DIE - $55 million domestic, $35 million foreign
KISS OF THE DRAGON - $36 million domestic, $27 million foreign
THE ONE - $43 million domestic, foreign $28 million foreign
CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE - $34 million domestic, $21 million foreign
HERO - $53 million domestic, $123 million foreign
UNLEASHED - $24 million domestic, $26 million foreign
FEARLESS - $24 million domestic, $43 million foreign
WAR - $22 million domestic, $16 million foreign
TOTAL: $291 million domestic, $319 million foreign
Jet Li has grossed $28 million more overseas than in the US since 2000

So if Jackie Chan has grossed so much more than Jet Li, why is Jet Li pulling in a record-breaking salary? Well, for starters, Jet's salary is the highest salary paid on a Chinese-language movie. Jackie still pulls in $15 million in Hollywood and I imagine Jet Li makes much less than that because he doesn't have a hit US series like RUSH HOUR under his belt. But on the international stage, Jet Li seems to be considered more bankable.

"Without Jet Li, we would not date to invest $40 million in a Chinese-language film," director Peter Chan said to Xinhua, going on to say that Li was hired for so much money because he was a "guarantee." And he is. Even with higher grosses to his name, Jackie Chan isn't viewed as the sure thing that Jet Li is. Among fans in the West, Jet Li regularly outsells Jackie Chan on DVD with even an old Jet Li movie like the US disc, LEGEND OF THE SWORDSMAN (a retitling of Jet Li's SWORDSMAN 2) selling over twice as many units as Jackie Chan's POLICE STORY. Jackie Chan isn't a guarantee of anything, a fact you can see borne out by the numbers in the chart above. Jet Li's worst grossing movie made $22 million, his best-grossing made $55, for a difference of $33 million. Jackie Chan's worst-grossing movie made $11 million while his best grossing made $226 million, a difference of $215 million. Even ruling out their highest and lowest grossing films, there's still a $29 million range for Jet but a $118 million range for Jackie. So Jet Li is dependable and expected to perform within a certain range no matter what, whereas Jackie Chan is a risk: he could give you a hit, he could give you a flop, it all depends on a host of other factors. And that's not what investors want to see - they want guaranteed returns and consistency.

Jackie Chan may have made more money than Jet Li, he may have higher-grossing movies, he may be a bigger star, but Jet Li is looking more and more like the more bankable star. And that makes all the difference.