John Chu’s Movie Tops North American Box Office For A Second Weekend
Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians soared to $25 million in its second weekend – almost as much as the rom-com earned in its first weekend and representing one of the best holds in modern history for a wide release summer title.
The film, based on the novels by Kevin Kwan, dropped just 6 percent from the previous weekend, a rare achievement for a movie not released during a holiday.
Its success has already inspired distributor Warner Bros. to start work on a sequel with director Jon Chu. Kwan’s follow-up book China Rich Girlfriend was No. 2 on Amazon charts this week.
Internationally, Crazy Rich Asians grossed $6 million from its first 10 markets, including several countries in Asia. Singapore, one of the film’s locales, turned in $1.8 million, the best opening of all time for a rom-com, according to Warners. The movie’s current foreign tally is $7.1 million for a global total of $83.9 million.
Almost as many people turned out over the weekend for Crazy Rich Asians as they did for its opening. That’s virtually never the case for non-holiday releases, which typically drop about 50%.
But propelled by an eagerness for a major Hollywood film led by Asian stars, Crazy Rich Asians is showing almost unprecedented legs.
