Crazy Rich Asians director shares update about sequel: ‘The bar is too high’

The sequel was announced in 2018

Jon M Chu has provided an update on the long awaited sequel to his 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians sequel, but said that he would not bring the cast back unless “it’s worth it”.

The first Crazy Rich Asians film, written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, directed by Chu, and based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan, followed Chinese-American professor Rachel Chu who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick Young and is shocked to discover that his family is one of the richest there.

The  romantic comedy-drama was lauded for its predominantly Asian cast, with Constance Wu starring as Rachel Chu, Henry Golding as Nick Young, along with Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Sonoya Mizuno. Crazy Rich Asians grossed $239m globally, and opened to mostly favourable reviews.

A sequel was announced by Warner Bros Pictures in 2018, with Chiarelli and Lim returning to write the script, based on the book’s sequel, China Rich Girlfriend. Later the same year, it was announced that the third film, based on the final novel in the trilogy, Rich People Problems, would be filmed back-to-back in 2020.

Henry Golding and Constance Wu in Crazy Rich Asians (Sanja Bucko/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock)

In 2022, Chinese-Australian writer Amy Wang was hired to replace the writers following Lim’s exit from the film in 2019 after it was revealed that Chiarelli was allegedly going to be paid almost 10 times more than her.

In a podcast appearance, fresh off the success of recent directorial venture Wicked, Chu provided fans with a disappointing update on the fate of the sequel.

“I won’t bring everyone back unless it’s worth it. There’s too much on the line for everybody,” Chu said on Deadline’s Crew Call.

“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.”

“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 get there, we will.”

“To me, that sequel right now is the Broadway musical that we’re working on. That’s very exciting and very fun,” he added, referring to the forthcoming musical adaptation in development, set to be directed by Chu.

Chu’s Wicked, along with Gladiator 2, is being credited for fans rushing to theatres this past weekend, with the lavish musical, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, debuting with $114m domestically and $164.2m globally for Universal Pictures, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in a scene Wicked (© Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave Wicked three stars, writing that stars “Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande showcase phenomenal vocal ability in this adaptation of the blockbuster musical, but they’re let down by a film that is aggressively overlit and shot like a TV advert.”