Jon M. Chu is in no rush to make Crazy Rich Asians 2, which would be based on the Kevin Kwan novel, China Rich Girlfriend.
While speaking with Deadline‘s Crew Call, Chu offered an update on the Crazy Rich Asians sequel that has been in development since 2018. “I won’t bring everyone back unless it’s worth it. There’s too much on the line for everybody,” he remarked.
The filmmaker continued, “I want the best thing. I want it to be worthy of what Crazy Rich Asians 1 was. We’ve tried all different versions. It’s hard because people think the first movie is like the book, but it actually is not. It’s the right spirit, but the plotting is very different. And so, you can’t just go and translate. And we’ve tried versions and the fact is, is that we just haven’t gotten there.”
At one point, Warner Bros. was toying with filming the second and third books in Kwan’s trilogy back-to-back. Adele Lim, who co-wrote Crazy Rich Asians, was originally set to return as co-writer on China Rich Girlfriend alongside Peter Chiarelli, but left after a pay dispute. In 2022, Amy Wang was brought in to write the sequel and that’s the last we’ve heard about that, although there was a report in April 2024 stating that filming would begin in early 2025. We’ll see about that.
“And there’s no way I’m dragging the audience back. There’s no way the bar is too high. So, in time when we when we get there, we will,” Chu concluded.
Were you a fan of Crazy Rich Asians and are sad that the sequels haven’t been made yet? (Also, read Romona’s review of the 2018 movie here.)