Two ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ sequels are set to film back-to-back.
The widely acclaimed drama movie – which was released earlier this year – proved to be a global success, earning more than $230 million at the box office, but plans to reunite the cast to shoot a sequel have, perhaps, proven to be more difficult than expected.
Some of the original movie’s cast – which includes the likes of Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Sonoya Mizuno, Awkwafina and Michelle Yeoh – have recently emerged as some of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood.
As a result, the two sequels – which will be based on author Kevin Kwan’s follow-up novels ‘China Rich Girlfriend’ and ‘Rich People Problems’ – will be filmed back-to-back, according to producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.
The first of the sequels is unlikely to go into production until 2020, according to Deadline, which reports that Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli are currently working on a script.
News of the sequels comes shortly after Henry Golding revealed he doesn’t want to be labelled as the "Asian leading man".
However, the sought-after star said that if it helps to "inspire" others, he’s happy to take the title.
He explained: "I don’t want to be defined as the Asian leading man. I want to be the leading man. Henry Golding.
"If it means helping inspire other Asians to be leading men, hell yeah, I’ll take it. You don’t know how proud I am to have that associated with my name.
"Sadly, we’re so underrepresented that we have to start with these labels to be proud of it, to normalise it. So s**t, I’ll be the next Asian leading man."