Following an extended Labor Day weekend where it pulled in a projected $28 million, Crazy Rich Asians has now become the highest-grossing romantic comedy at the U.S. box office since 2009’s The Proposal with an estimated $117 million. According to Hollywood Reporter, the film also just surpassed 2017’s Girls Trip as the most successful domestic live-action comedy in at least two years. It has been a crazy run for the first Hollywood major studio movie since 1993's The Joy Luck Club to feature an all-Westernized Asian-American cast.
The success of Crazy Rich Asians comes after director Jon M. Chu, and Kevin Kwan, the author of the 2013 novel which goes by the same name, rejected a much more lucrative deal two years ago in order to realize their hopes of a theatrical release. A profile by THR details how Chu and Kwan were the ones left in charge of making the final decision between going with the far less financially enticing offer from Warner Bros. over receiving promises of a trilogy, complete artistic freedom, and a seven-figure deal with Netflix.
The process of getting Crazy Rich Asians to the big screen started all the way back to when Kwan optioned his novel to Color Force and Ivanhoe Pictures for just $1. Kwan took this opportunity with promises of money on the backend if the project actually got off the ground over more lucrative offers because he wanted to be involved in developmental decisions. His bet has undoubtedly paid off with the triumph of Crazy Rich Asians and plans for a sequel reportedly in the works.
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