Crazy Rich Asians to break ground, if not box-office records

By the usual Hollywood standards, Crazy Rich Asians is a modest rom-com, set to generate about $18 million in its North American debut starting Wednesday.

But the true sign of its success may be whether it helps usher in more films like it. Hollywood hasn’t produced a movie like this — featuring a mostly Asian cast — in 25 years. Like The Joy Luck Club in 1993, Crazy Rich Asians is also based on a best-selling book, and many will see it as a test of the broader appeal of an American movie with Asian themes.

“Many of us are hoping it is the dawn of a new era,” said Janet Yang, an executive producer of The Joy Luck Club. “The desire to finally stake a claim in the industry has been bubbling to the surface for a while.” Crazy Rich Asians represents the latest effort by Hollywood to diversify its talent pool, both in front of and behind the camera. Walt Disney Co.’s Black Panther shattered box-office records this year and helped demonstrate the global appeal of movies with black themes and casts.

‘Big and Glossy’

Crazy Rich Asians is a chance for Asian-Americans to see themselves on the big screen in a film that’s “big and glossy, and doesn’t show them in a position of poverty or struggle,” Potts said.

The move is “not highlighting stereotypes, just celebrating who they are and the complexity of not only being Asian but Asian-American.”

Asians have been almost invisible in Hollywood. In a survey of popular movies, researchers at the University of Southern California found that fewer than five per cent of characters were Asian and more than one in three movies had no Asian speaking characters at all. Four percent of all directors were Asian or Asian-American; Asian female directors were nearly nonexistent in the sample.

In its annual study of moviegoers by race and ethnicity, the Motion Picture Association of America broke out attendance by Asian-Americans this year for the first time. They found per capita attendance was highest among Latino and Asian audiences, with Asians making up eight per cent of frequent filmgoers in 2017, even though they only make up six per cent of the US population.