Well, that didn’t take long. After a very impressive opening weekend, a sequel to Crazy Rich Asians is moving forward with director Jon M. Chu returning.
Chu, whose past credits include 2016’s Now You See Me 2 and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, does have a packed schedule, but he’d likely helm the follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians after shooting the long-awaited adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical, In the Heights, which Warner Bros. has scheduled for a June 26, 2020, release.
The studio and its CEO and chairman Kevin Tsujihara took a risk by greenlighting a film starring an all-Asian cast and a very specific story set in Singapore, but with the massive opening weekend results, a strong performance in weeks to come all but guaranteed a sequel was a go. The $30 million production, the first Hollywood studio movie since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club to feature an all-Westernized Asian ensemble, has opened better than any other comedy this year and any rom-com since 2015’s Trainwreck. It’s very likely that it will see about $100-110 million by the end of its run in the states and overseas prospects could be promising as well.
Warner Bros. has the option for Kevin Kwan’s entire trilogy, which includes 2015’s China Rich Girlfriend and 2017’s Rich People Problems. The main cast, including Henry Golding, Constance Wu, and Michelle Yeoh, have options in place for the sequels, and, after likely negotiating bigger deals in light of the film’s success, would also return.
