The film with an all-Asian cast made $34 million in its first five days – double the amount predicted earlier this summer
Romantic comedy « Crazy Rich Asians » was No. 1 at the weekend box office in North America, raking in an estimated $34 million in ticket sales since Wednesday’s opening. The movie is being celebrated as a turning point for Asian-American representation in Hollywood.
It’s been a quarter century since the last time a nearly all-Asian cast starred in a Hollywood studio film – 1993’s « The Joy Luck Club, » reports CBS News correspondent Vladimir Duthiers.
« Crazy Rich Asians » may not be the solution to all of Hollywood’s diversity problems, but fans like David Chen believe it can help.
« I asked myself like, well, what am I doing to further the cause of diversity and more representation on screen? » Chen said. He is one of several people who have bought out showings – even entire cinemas – to get people to see the film. He said he was inspired by the movie’s director, Jon M. Chu, who passed on a big payday with Netflix to get « Crazy Rich Asians » in theaters.
« We didn’t need the money, we didn’t – we had an agenda to get this to the most eyeballs, but – but at a place that it could affect the most people, » Chu said.
Hollywood has struggled with Asian-American representation. The industry has recently been ridiculed for casting white actors in roles seemingly intended for Asian actors.
« After a while, I think Hollywood got scared, » HuffPost Asian Voices editor Kimberly Yam said. In a thread of widely shared tweets, she described the movie’s emotional impact after growing up Asian-American.
« There were just so many different types of Asians, » Yam said of « Crazy Rich Asians. » « We were just ourselves. Authentically Asian…. For someone who has never seen that, that meant a lot. »
While Yam said the film does sacrifice some cultural accuracy, she said the film makes up for it in the name of fun.
« Hopefully more stories will be made of different experiences, both in the Asian-American community along with other minorities, » she said.
Earlier this summer, box office experts predicted « Crazy Rich Asians » would open with just half of the estimated $34 million the movie’s made in its first five days. The film is helping raise the success of Hollywood’s summer season. Revenue is up more than 12 percent over last summer.
