"Crazy Rich Asians" sets Malaysia's biggest opening weekend for romcom

28 Aug – "Crazy Rich Asians" has set another record, this time for the all-time biggest opening weekend for a Hollywood romantic comedy in Malaysia.

Bowing in at second place, the movie has amassed RM3.05 million ever since its release in local cinemas on 23 August.

This means the Jon M. Chu-directed movie is placed just one spot behind "Hantu Kak Limah" (which is a record-breaker itself as the highest grossing local movie ever with its current RM32.5 million collection) and has pushed down Jason Statham-starrer "The Meg" one spot down to number three.

Partially filmed in the country and starring Sarawak-born Henry Golding as the lead with Ipoh-born international icon Michelle Yeoh playing his mother, there's little surprise that Malaysians are more than eager to catch the movie on the big screen.

Meanwhile in Singapore, where "Crazy Rich Asians" was largely shot, the movie has topped the box office on its opening weekend, The Straits Times reports.

Opened on 120 screens, with sneak previews since last Tuesday, the movie made SGD2.5 million. It also beats "The Meg", pushing the action movie off the top spot.

It is among the best opening weekend for a romantic comedy in Singapore, as it easily surpassed the collection of 2015's "Fifty Shades of Grey" (SGD931,000), 2014's "The Fault In Our Stars" (SGD675,000) and 2010's "Sex And The City 2" (SGD691,000).

"Crazy Rich Asians", based on Singapore-born Kevin Kwan's 2013 novel, previously made a grand entrance at the US box office when it opened with USD34 million.

Its global success means a sequel is now in early production, based on 2015's "China Rich Girlfriend", Kwan's second book in the trilogy, which he was prompted to write following the success of the first book.

The third book, 2017's "Rich People Problems", might also be adapted into a movie if the sequel sees the same success as the first movie.