©Courtesy of Warner Brothers
Filmmaker Jon M. Chu has shared new details about the long anticipated sequel to his acclaimed 2018 feature, Crazy Rich Asians. While talking to The Hollywood Reporter to promote his latest smash hit, the screen adaptation of Wicked, the director said: “I always promised the cast, I will not bring them back unless we get a script that’s better and has as much urgency as the first movie.”
Chu also told Deadline that as far as the follow-up is concerned, “I won’t bring everyone back unless it’s worth it. There’s too much on the line for everybody.”
The filmmaker added, “I want the best thing. I want it to be worthy of what Crazy Rich Asians 1 was. We’ve tried all different versions. It’s hard because people think the first movie is like the book, but it actually is not. It’s the right spirit, but the plotting is very different. And so, you can’t just go and translate. And we’ve tried versions and the fact is that we just haven’t gotten there.
“And there’s no way I’m dragging the audience back. There’s no way the bar is too high. So, in time when we when we get there, we will,” Chu added.
The latest announcement from the helmer comes after Crazy Rich Asians 2 was initially announced quickly after the original project grossed $35 million within five days of its distribution. The romantic dramedy, which Warner Bros. released in theaters on August 15, 2018, went on to garner $174.9 million at the U.S./Canadian box office and close to $240 million worldwide.
The film also garnered attention for being the first major studio film to feature an all-Asian cast in 25 years. The last movie to do so was the 1993 drama, The Joy Luck Club.
Crazy Rich Asians helped bring attention to several Asian American actors, including Constance Wu, Awkwafina, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan and Michelle Yeoh. The latter went on to become the first Asian actress to the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The latest news about Crazy Rich Asians 2 comes after it was reported that Amy Wang was working on a draft of the script. It was also announced that the sequel’s screenplay would combine elements from the second and third entries in the book series the first film is based on by Kevin Kwan.
Then in May 2022, it was revealed that a spinoff of the Crazy Rich Asians screen adaptation was in early development from Barry producer and scribe Jason Kim. The spinoff feature is focused on Chan’s character of Astrid Young Teo and her romance with Charlie Wu, played by Harry Shum Jr.
Both the sequel and spinoff film adaptations would be tied to the 2015 novel China Rich Girlfriend, which is the follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians‘ source material. Besides focusing on Astrid and Charlie’s relationship, the sequel follows Wu and Golding’s characters, Rachel and Nick, traveling to Shanghai to find her birth father.
While Chu isn’t rushing the development of the Crazy Rich Asians movie sequel, he’s working on the Broadway adaptation of the movie and novel. He said that considers the musical stage production to be the sequel as of now. “To me, that sequel right now is that the Broadway musical that we’re working on. That’s very exciting and very fun.”
The reports about Crazy Rich Asians‘ potential movie sequel and Broadway adaptation come as Chu garnered the best opening gross of his career with his latest movie, Wicked. The drama, which is based on the stage musical, earned $162.9 million worldwide over its opening weekend, after it was released in theaters this past Friday, November 22.
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