Jet Li Gets Eight-Figure Payday

June 12 -- Break out the fire hose: Hong Kong's hottest action import just got a few degrees hotter.

Wushu wonder Jet Li is already poised to jump-kick the ass of the summer box office with the action thriller Kiss of the Dragon, arriving in theaters July 6. Now the high-flying 38-year-old star will be soaring up the salary scale a few notches as well.

According to Variety, Li has inked a deal with Miramax to appear in a presently untitled action comedy, based on his own story idea. The script will be written by veteran key-puncher Robert Mark Kamen (The Fifth Element, The Karate Kid), who also penned Kiss of the Dragon, and Li will produce with Steve Chasman, who has already partnered with the star on both Dragon and the forthcoming Li actioner The One.

Li will reportedly receive slightly more than $10 million to star, marking his largest Hollywood payday to day. The Beijing-born star proved his worth when his first American vehicle, Romeo Must Die, posted an $18 million opening and went on to gross just less than $56 million against production costs of $25 million.

No director has yet been named for the new project, but the all-important fight sequences will be choreographed by Hong Kong director Corey Yuen, who, to date, has worked in the same capacity with Li on Dragon, The One, and Romeo Must Die. The story will feature Li as a Tibetan monk who brings harmony to an inner-city New York neighborhood after arriving on the scene as the unlikely winner of an international contest.

Li will be joined in the cast by fellow Hong Kong luminaries Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung (who partnered earlier this year in Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love) and rising star Zhang Ziyi, of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame.