Quote:Luke Ford Joins Mummy 3

Universal Pictures and director Rob Cohen have set Luke Ford to star in the third installment of The Mummy, in a move that potentially sets the franchise up for future films, Variety reported. The 26-year-old Australian actor was cast with the expectation that he will eventually carry the franchise.

Ford will play Alex O'Connell, the grown-up son of Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell and Rachel Weisz's Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell from the first two Mummy films. (Freddie Boath played the character as a boy in The Mummy Returns.) Alex journeys into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas, where he and Fraser's character run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor who was cursed by a female wizard. (Weisz declined to return for the third Mummy.)

Jet Li plays the mummy. Michelle Yeoh plays the wizard. The script was written by Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough. Shooting will begin in Montreal on July 27 and then move to China. The film is eyeing a July 2008 release date. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Quote: BEIJING (Reuters) - 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.

"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. Li was a "guarantee" for global sales, Chan said.

Chinese-language movies have registered a string of hits in the past few years, from Ang Lee's martial arts tale "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," to Zhang Yimou's ancient history epic "Hero."

The earlier salary record was held by Li himself for his role in "Hero," for which he earned 70 million yuan.

Li, 44, a childhood martial arts champion, has also broken into English-language films, featuring in action pictures such as "Romeo Must Die" and "Lethal Weapon 4."

"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.

Quote:Mummy 3 Wraps In China

Rob Cohen, director of the upcoming The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, wrote on his official blog that production has wrapped in Shanghai.

"After 91 days of shooting and 2,021 shots, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has wrapped," Cohen wrote. "I finished shooting the 'Imhotep's Nightclub' sequence with Isabella Leong slow dancing with Luke Ford and, across the dance floor, Brendan Fraser guiding Maria Bello through the steps in a very romantic ending quickly turning to comedy as, upstairs in the lounge, John Hannah gets caught skipping out of town on his partner Liam Cunningham."

The production ended with a wrap party at Shanghai Studios, preceded by a fireworks display, Cohen said.

Cohen praised his cast, which includes Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, John Hannah, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Liam Cunningham and David Calder.

Cohen promised more news about the movie as it moves into post-production. "Rest assured, I will continue to update you on the post-production process, give you sneak peeks and take you right through to the world premiere in Beijing, China, on July 24, 2008," he said.