2003 is a busy year for Jackie Chan.
Following on from "The Tuxedo", Jackie's planning to be back on our screens with "Shanghai Knights" (the sequel to "Shanghai Noon"), "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Highbinders" (alongside rubber-faced comic Lee Evans).
One reason Jackie isn't taking it easy is because he still hasn't made his mark on Hollywood.
As one of the biggest stars in the whole of Asia, Jackie Chan's move to the US of A has been a bit of an anti-climax.
"Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Noon" did well, but they weren't exactly the moneymaking equivalent of Chan's earlier "Police Story" or "Project A".
Nervous about letting the pint-sized martial arts star loose on his own, Hollywood's suits have made him share screen time with westerners more familiar with tofu than kung fu.
Co-stars have included motormouth standup Chris Tucker, in the "Rush Hour" series; skinny Owen Wilson in "Shanghai Noon"; and Jennifer Love Hewitt in "The Tuxedo".
It may be better than his early Hollywood roles - he played the Japanese (!) driver in "The Cannonball Run" - but it's not exactly the kind of treatment the Eastern superstar is used to.
Jackie's Chinese name, 'Chenglong', means "To become a dragon", and back in Hong Kong he can breathe fire with the best of them.
It was after Bruce Lee's death in 1973 that he realised the Asian world was ready for a new kind of star.
"Nobody can beat Bruce Lee; everybody can beat me," the star once famously reasoned, and it's true.
Every time Jackie throws a punch, he's likely to hit a wall, trip over, or fall flat on his face.
Almost all of Jackie's Hong Kong movies rely on this comedy/kung fu fusion, with films like "Drunken Master", "Armour of God", "City Hunter", and "Twin Dragons" piling on the fighting accidents like some ΓΌber-violent Keystone Cops feature.
Chan's Hong Kong projects are deliriously fast-paced movies, where plot takes second place to martial arts pratfalls.
They've broken more box office records than Jackie's broken bones doing his own stunts.
By the 80s, Chan was his own boss, overseeing everything from the storylines and the fight scenes, to the casting and direction, while still finding time to do his death-defying action sequences.
Maybe it's time he took a few more risks on the other side of the Atlantic as well.
"The Tuxedo" opens in UK cinemas on Friday 10th January 2003.
