The new romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians proved to be incredibly popular at the box office, so much so that Warner Bros. apparently greenlit the sequel as the first movie was still in theatres. Now it’s become even more clear how much of a commercial success the movie was. As Quartz noticed, Crazy Rich Asians recently passed The Proposal to become the highest grossing romantic comedy of the past 10 years in the United States.
Data from Box Office Mojo shows that Crazy Rich Asians has now made $165.95 million in the US, surpassing The Proposal’s $163.4 million from 2009. The highest-grossing romantic comedy ever in the US is My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which brought in more than $240 million back in 2002. Other top performers include What Women Want ($182.8 million), Hitch ($179.5 million), Pretty Woman ($178.4 million), and There’s Something About Mary ($176.5 million).
Globally, Crazy Rich Asians has pulled in $217.8 million. With a reported budget of only $30 million, it appears to have been a massive commercial success, which probably explains why news about the sequel came to light so early.
Crazy Rich Asians could have been a Netflix movie. Author Kevin Kwan turned down a massive offer from Netflix for the film, instead opting to go with Warner Bros. because he wanted it to be an “old-fashioned cinematic experience.”
“We needed this to be an old-fashioned cinematic experience, not for fans to sit in front of a TV and just press a button,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I could have moved to an island and never worked another day.”
Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu is expected to return for the sequel. Casting and story details for the sequel are unavailable, but it’s likely the sequel may be an adaptation of Kwan’s 2015 book China Rich Girlfriend.
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