Crazy Rich Asians shines bright at the box office
Glitz won over guns as the gilded romance
Crazy Rich Asians debuted at No.1 in North American theaters this weekend, surpassing industry expectations and beating out action-packed fare like Mile 22.
Warner Bros estimates that the film earned US$25.2 million (835 million baht) over the weekend and $34 million since its opening on Wednesday. It’s a surefire win for the film, which cost $30 million to produce and went into the weekend with months of buzz and a 93% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Breakout star Henry Golding said on Sunday that the film’s performance is a “testament to the people who are turning up”.
“It’s not just the Asians who are coming. It’s people of all colors from all walks of life who are enjoying this cinematic experience,” Golding said. “It’s a real shift in Hollywood.”
Adapted from Kevin Kwan’s best-seller,
Crazy Rich Asians stars Constance Wu as an American woman who gets a culture shock meeting her boyfriend’s obscenely wealthy family in Singapore. The studio strategically bumped up the film’s opening to a Wednesday earlier in the summer.
As recently as July 26, box office experts were predicting that the film would open to at least $18 million over its first five days, but no one expected a launch of over $30 million.
The stakes were high for the first studio-produced movie led by Asian-Americans in 25 years. The filmmakers even turned down a big offer from Netflix to give the historically significant film a theatrical platform. Cast members and fans started using the hashtag #GoldOpen to try to encourage more opening weekend support.
Director Jon M. Chu tweeted his appreciation on Sunday and asked audiences to keep spreading the word.
Despite the success of Crazy Rich Asians, other films still found audiences this weekend, including Warner Bros shark movie The Meg, which fell only 53% in its second weekend, adding $21.2
million. The Jason Statham-led film has now grossed over $300 million worldwide.
Mark Wahlberg’s action-packed Mile 22, his fourth collaboration with director Peter Berg, debuted in third place with an estimated $13.6 million. The STX film had a $35 million production budget.
Launching with $10.5 million, Alpha,
an Ice Age-set adventure tale, tied for fourth place in its opening weekend with Mission: Impossible — Fallout.
In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Wife opened with $111,137, and Roadside Attractions’ Juliet, Naked
debuted with $60,922. Both films opened in four theaters.
One film that did not find much of an audience was Kevin Spacey’s Billionaire Boys Club, which Vertical Entertainment released in eight theaters this weekend after making it available for purchase on Video on Demand last month. Official earnings were not reported to comScore, but industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter said on Sunday that the film earned a dismal $425.
Hollywood’s winning streak continues with the summer season up 12.4% from last year and the year overall up 8.9%.