20 Aug – "Crazy Rich Asians" just got crazy richer. With its USD34 million 5-day collection, it has easily reimbursed its USD30 million production budget. While we over in Asia have yet to watch it, the Jon M. Chu-directed all-Asian Hollywood movie opened in the U.S. last week on 15 August. It was projected to gross at most USD20 million within 5 days but of course it effortlessly surpassed that estimate on its opening weekend, making USD25.3 million within just 3 days, based on Box Office Mojo stats.
The movie took the top spot last weekend, pushing fellow Warner Bros. title "The Meg" (which earned USD21.5 million on its opening weekend) down to the second spot while Mark Wahlberg's "Mile 22" opened at the third spot with USD13.6 million. While the movie also opened in 9 other territories from 15 to 17 August, its U.S. box office collection makes up a big chunk of its global gross of USD34.7 million. "Crazy Rich Asians" is also the first romantic comedy in three years to open in the U.S with more than USD20 million. Variety reported that in recent years, no romcom has come close to that figure, with the Anna Faris-starring "Overboard" remake collecting a USD14 million opening gross and the Amy Schumer-starring "I Feel Pretty" opening with USD16 million. "Crazy Rich Asians", adapted from Kevin Kwan's novel of the same name, follows Rachel (Wu) who travels to Singapore to attend her boyfriend Nick's best friend's wedding, only to find out Nick (Golding) comes from a crazy rich family and making his mom Eleanor (Yeoh) accept her as his girlfriend will not be an easy task. The movie is opening in Malaysia and Singapore this 22 August, and in Cambodia this 31 August.