'Crazy Rich Asians' Shatters Box Office Predictions In Opening Days
Another minority-lead blockbuster has defied industry expectations by posting a massive opening ticket sales at the box office.
“Crazy Rich Asians” surpassed predictions by experts with a $34 million 5-day opening. Industry expectations had the all-Asian cast on track to make $25 million through its first weekend in theaters, but audiences seemed to fall in love with the first Hollywood blockbuster to feature an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club” 25 years ago.
Those starring in the film adaption of Kevin Kwan’s novel include well-established actors such as Michelle Yeoh, Ken Jeong and Constance Wu. The movie also features breakout Asian stars such as Henry Golding and Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum.
“Crazy Rich Asians” revolves around the love story of Rachel and Nick (Wu and Golding) as they travel to Singapore together for a wedding and Rachel discovers her boyfriend’s unbelievable wealth. The film features the best in Asian culture with food, fashion and language as Rachel desperately fights for the approval of Nick’s mother (Yeoh).
Golding, of British and Malaysian descent, told HuffPost earlier this month why the representation in “Crazy Rich Asians” is so crucial.
“The film is so important for people out there to open their eyes a little bit more. Golding said. “People look to cinema to spread the word and to tell these wonderful, outrageous stories or true-to-life documentaries. It’s such an important format for us to put our faces on and normalize. It’s so influential in terms of society.”
“Crazy Rich Asians” has helped defy the idea that Asian movies are risky undertakings, much as “Black Panther” did for black actors and filmmakers earlier this year. “Black Panther” shattered box office records and quickly earned the honor of being the highest-grossing superhero movie in the United States.
So much for the argument that minority stories “don’t sell.”
Related...
Henry Golding Of ‘Crazy Rich Asians': From Hairstylist To Cutting It As A Breakout Star
Constance Wu Reflects On Significance Of 'Crazy Rich Asians' In Raw Post
'Crazy Rich Asians' Director Jon M. Chu On His Journey To Reclaim His Identity
'Crazy Rich Asians' Star Awkwafina Proved All The Haters Wrong By Taking Risks
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PS is it just me? Or is it REALLY FUCKIN’ cool to be Asian right now?!!!! 💪😎🤜
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) August 15, 2018
Watching #CrazyRichAsians with my parents is an experience I’d never trade for anything else – seeing them literally on the edge of their seats made the wait worth it.
— ᴀʟᴛᴏɴ ᴡᴀɴɢ (@altonwang) August 15, 2018
Perhaps I'm the token Asian friend but all my non-asian friends want to watch Crazy Rich Asians with me... but there can only be one.
Who will it be?
I'm the fucking Bachelor.— natalie tran [bring them here] (@natalietran) August 15, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and that's nice because if there is one thing we love more than anything else, it's an A+
— irene choi (@irenechoi) August 11, 2018
In 2018, we've gotten to see Mindy Kaling as an interdimensional being and heist team member, Sandra Oh as an Mi5 operative, and Constance Wu as a college professor in love. #RepresentationMatters #CrazyRichAsians
— Yanick Saila-Ngita (@wunderkind87) August 15, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians beating a Mark Wahlberg film at the box office is vengeance.
— E. Alex Jung (@e_alexjung) August 14, 2018
Why am I #ProudToBeAsian? I'm #ProudToBeAsian because all of my life, I've been told to hide my food, speak louder, hold my tongue, go back where I came from, break out of my box and now I literally DGAF what you have to say if you're not coming with respect for me and my people.
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) August 8, 2018
y’all say representation doesn’t matter but let me tell you if it wasn’t for mulan i probably would have never learned to embrace the asian side of my ethnicity. her movie helped me embrace myself and my culture and i will never forgot how important she is to me.
— miss honeybunchesofoats🏳️🌈 (@healbtch) August 12, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians cements that this feels like a moment, and I wanted to celebrate it making this shirt featuring badass women. Thank you @IamSandraOh, @MindyKaling, @ConstanceWu, @AliWong, @LucyLiu (among others) for making history and paving the way for all of us. ❤ pic.twitter.com/flY2n7GKlh
— Jaime Woo (@jaimewoo) August 13, 2018
Hello, if you cannot afford to see Crazy Rich Asians opening weekend because you are actually a very poor Asian, DM me a pic of your ticket receipt and I will Venmo you the cost of the ticket. Honor system, you better be broke. I’ll stop doing this when I decide to.
— Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) August 11, 2018
going to see crazy rich asians 100 times (bc as my mom always told me, a 99 doesn't get you into college)
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) August 15, 2018
Today I sold a network TV drama set in Hawai'i whose LEAD (not supporting) characters are ALL Asian/Pacific Islander/hapa. Thank you, #CrazyRichAsians, for opening today on the big screens. We're coming for your small screens too. This is just the beginning. #AsianAugust
— Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (@LisaCullen) August 16, 2018
crazy broke asians but we pay $ for representation #cra pic.twitter.com/SIi8POCc0i
— dan q. dao (@danqdao) August 16, 2018
Can we make #AsianAugust a real thing? Just every year, let’s get some quality Asian content in every medium for a whole month. And slowly, we take over the rest of the calendar year....
— Fruit Burst Gemini (@heneenya) August 9, 2018
So, okay, I watched @CrazyRichMovie yesterday, & I was fighting tears the whole time. I'd expected it to be meaningful, fun, joyful, but I hadn't at all expected what amounted to a lifetime of sorrow & longing, an onslaught of feelings I hadn't even known I was suppressing.
— R.O. Kwon (@rokwon) August 16, 2018
As an Asian-American kid growing up in the 70s - now... Lemme say just how wonderful it feels to see this on screen vs. what I grew up on (and was told by the media how they thought of me). Representation matters. I'm thankful for all the artists paving the way. #CrazyRichAsians pic.twitter.com/CeWzUfQCYk
— Gary King (@grking) August 15, 2018
Crazy Rich Asians is important. Representation matters. Not just for actors but for everyone who wants to see someone that looks like them in a big Hollywood movie. I hope this movie smashes records & shows young Asian Americans they can be the heroes of their own story. /end
— Erika Ishii (@erikaishii) August 16, 2018
It’s hard to be BOLD. It’s easier to sit quietly in the shade and let the past be the present, and not shake the ground. Thank you to the @CrazyRichMovie team for being BOLD and SHAKING the effing ground! @ConstanceWu @jonmchu ❤️👊🏾 https://t.co/xuAdGXo903
— Will Yun Lee (@WillYunLee) August 16, 2018
As I celebrate/support @CrazyRichMovie this wk as the 1st major studio film to have an all AsianAm cast in 25 yrs, let’s also recognize that our community wasn’t dormant during that time. I wanna also celebrate the amazing progress that happened in those 25 yrs leading to now.
— philipwang (@philipwang) August 14, 2018
I will definitely be supporting ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ today and i have nothing smart to say about it. There’s a gang of Asians in the movie so i fucks with it!
— dummie (@dumbfoundead) August 15, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
