Crazy rich sequel! More than four years after Crazy Rich Asians made its debut, a second movie could finally be in the works — but the journey hasn’t been easy.
In 2018, the Jon M. Chu-directed blockbuster captured the hearts of moviegoers and dominated the box office. The film broke records, made millions worldwide and became the most successful rom-com in a decade. With a predominantly Asian cast of actors, it also paved the way for more diverse representation in Hollywood.
Crazy Rich Asians, based on the Kevin Kwan novel of the same name, follows the story of Rachel Chu, an Asian American professor played by Constance Wu. She goes to Singapore with her boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), for his best friend’s wedding and learns that Nick is part of one of the wealthiest families in the country. The film also stars Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong and Michelle Yeoh.
Given the movie’s massive success — and with the help of a post-credit scene — a sequel never seemed out of the question. Kwan’s series includes two more books, but when it comes to expanding the film franchise, things have been up in the air.
The potential second installment made headlines when screenwriter Adele Lim left the project in 2019 due to pay disparity. At the time, Lim claimed to The Hollywood Reporter that cowriter Peter Chiarelli (who wrote The Proposal) received a significantly higher fee in comparison to her own. Chiarelli’s offer allegedly ranged from $800,000 to $1 million, while Lim was offered a measly $110,000. Chiarelli reportedly volunteered to split his earnings with Lim, but she passed.
“Pete has been nothing but incredibly gracious, but what I make shouldn’t be dependent on the generosity of the white-guy writer,” she said in the same interview. “If I couldn’t get pay equity after CRA, I can’t imagine what it would be like for anyone else, given that the standard for how much you’re worth is having established quotes from previous movies, which women of color would never have been [hired for]. There’s no realistic way to achieve true equity that way.”
The production searched for a new writer as both Chiarelli and Lim left the project. In March 2022, Deadline reported that Amy Wang, whose prior credits include Netflix’s Brothers Sun and From Scratch, got the job. However, the sequel still faces another challenge: the cast’s availability.
“We do have a writer … but now I think the big challenge is everyone getting back together,” Golding shared with Access Hollywood at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in March 2022.
The all-star cast has been in high demand ever since the success of Crazy Rich Asians. Wu starred in Hustlers alongside Jennifer Lopez, while Chan joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Golding, for his part, went on to appear in A Simple Favor and Snake Eyes. Even Awkwafina joined the MCU while balancing her voice acting gigs with filming her Comedy Central TV show, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens.
The Crazy Rich Asians team originally planned to film the second and third movies back-to-back in 2020 to accommodate the limited availability of its stars. However, due to the global coronavirus pandemic and other setbacks, the project went on hiatus. Chu went on to direct 2021’s In the Heights and is working on the highly anticipated film adaptation of Broadway’s Wicked.
Fans are still eager for answers about Crazy Rich Asians 2 — scroll down for everything to know so far about the possible sequel.
