Now it looks like Crazy Rich Asians 2 is due to be out sometime in 2022. When Crazy Rich Asians was released in August last year, it went on to collect US$238 million globally, making it the highest-grossing romantic Hollywood comedy movie in the past 10 years. It is also the sixth highest-grossing rom-com of all time. The opening weekend itself was so promising that Warner Bros announced the movie’s sequels within a week of its release.
‘Crazy Rich Asians 2’
“As far as I know, they’re starting to write scripts for the second film and the third film… Obviously, there are three books in the trilogy… But I’ve heard that we won’t shoot until 2020 at the earliest. And we’ll shoot films two and three back-to-back,” Gemma Chan, who plays one of the characters in the movie, said to Radio Times.
The movie is based on the first of the three books written by Kevin Chan and follows the life of wealthy elites from Singapore and a Chinese-American woman. After the first novel became a hit, Kwan was asked by his publishers to write the sequel. The subsequent two books also went on to be very popular with the audience. What made the movie stand out was not just the fact that it was a highly successful rom-com, but that it was the first Hollywood film in about 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast. The last all-Asian Hollywood movie was The Joy Luck Club released in 1993. The two sequels will be named China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems.
While the first movie ended with the protagonist Rachel Chu being engaged to her boyfriend Nick Young, the sequel will go on to explore the complicated relationship between the two. Rachel’s reunion with her long-lost father will also be explored. Screenwriters Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli will be returning for the sequels. All the stars of the first movie are also expected to return, provided their schedules are open. A 2022 release is said to have been set since some of the cast members had contracts for other movies until 2020.
The title for the sequel comes from a line in the book where Nick’s mother says that Chinese billionaires “aren’t just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich!” The director of the first movie, Jon Chu, will be helming the two sequels as well. But for now, Chu is busy doing an Asian series for Netflix.
Netflix series
Last year, the world was held at the razor’s edge over the fate of 12 boys from Thailand and their football coach who got trapped for two weeks in a cave. While all of them came out safely, the media was quick to compare the rescue to a “suspense thriller.” Netflix seems to have lapped up on the subject and contacted Chu to direct a series based on the events together with Thai director Nattawut Poonpiriya. Given that the series has huge potential to be a global hit, Chu has jumped on the opportunity.
“Like the rest of the world, we were riveted by the news of the Thai cave rescue. With the entire globe watching, this tragic human drama transformed into a beautiful, inspirational story of human beings saving other human beings. Not only did this show the best of the human spirit overcoming even the worst of circumstances, but it also proved that we are stronger when we work together,” Chu said in a statement (Variety).
Universal Pictures is making a movie on the same subject while Nat Geo is busy with a documentary. After filming the series, Chu is expected to get back with the team of Crazy Rich Girlfriend to direct the sequels.
