The highly successful 2018 romantic comedy film, Crazy Rich Asians, based on Kevin Kwan’s namesake novel, has officially resumed production of its sequel. Four years after Jon. M Chu’s record-breaking movie radically shifted the course of Asian representation in Hollywood, the sequel will be developed with a new screenwriter on board.
Crazy Rich Asians sequel
Plans for a sequel were quickly announced following the first film’s groundbreaking success. However, its production halted when the previous screenwriter, Adele Lim, quit citing controversial pay disparity issues in 2019. Lim, who has since worked on other films such as the Oscar-nominated Raya And The Last Dragon, had allegedly been offered a fee 10 times less than her co-writer Peter Chiarelli.
Warner Bros. has now replaced both Chiarelli and Lim with Chinese-Australian writer Amy Wang for the project, which will be directed by Chu once again.
Wang has quite a few accolades to her name, including a 2018 Cannes Lion award for her short film Unnatural. She is also currently writing and directing a Paramount/QC Entertainment horror film and working on two Netflix projects.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018) film and novels
In the 2018 movie, we saw Henry Golding as Nick Young, the heir of an affluent and notable Singaporean family, who brings along his Chinese-American girlfriend Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) home to attend his best friend’s wedding and meet his family.
The chaos and fun that ensues as the story unfolds are beautifully portrayed by the cast, including Gemma Chan as Astrid Young Teo, Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Young and Awkwafina as Peik Lin Goh.
The first of the trilogy, the novel Crazy Rich Asians (2013) was followed by China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017). Kwan successfully introduced contemporary Asia to a North American audience through his books and its 2018 screen adaptation.
The cast members
Golding and Wu will return for the sequel, although no other details have been revealed yet.
It is presumed that the next film will be based on China Rich Girlfriend, the second book. The story will revolve around Wu’s character and her journey as she sets out to discover her estranged father’s connections with China’s wealthy and upper-class elites.
(Main image credit: Netflix; Featured image credit: Crazy Rich Asians/Sanja Bucko – © 2017 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC/IMDb)
