Crazy Rich Asians Gets a Release Date & First Look EW Cover

Warner Bros’ Crazy Rich Asians gets a series of first look photos and an EW cover on the heels of being announced for a summer 2018 release date. The film is an adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s same-named best-selling novel that debuted in 2013. The story follows Chinese-American Rachel Chu, played by Fresh Off the Boat’s Constance Wu, and her boyfriend Nick Young, portrayed by newcomer Henry Golding, as they travel to Singapore for the wedding of one of Nick’s friends. Once there, Rachel learns that Nick’s family is one of the wealthiest in Malaysia and that comes with plenty of complications.

Kwan based his novel on his own life growing up in Singapore and the film adaptation has been in development since 2014, though Warner Bros. acquired the project late last year. Filming on Crazy Rich Asians began earlier this year and now Warner Bros. has set the film’s release date for summer 2018 while EW has unveiled a host of images from the movie.

THR reports that Crazy Rich Asians will hit theaters August 17, 2018. Currently, its only competition is puppet crime thriller/comedy The Happytime Murders and Rupert Wyatt’s sci-fi thriller Captive State. Plus, EW revealed their Crazy Rich Asians cover featuring Wu and Golding, as well as a gallery of images that features alternate photos from the cover shoot in addition to stills from the film. Take a look at the cover photo below:

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Now You See Me 2) from a script by Adele Lim (Lethal Weapon, Star-Crossed) and Peter Chiarelli (The Proposal), Crazy Rich Asians has brought together a stellar cast that includes – in addition to Wu and Golding – Michelle Yeoh as Nick’s mother Eleanor Sung-Young, Chris Pang as Nick’s childhood friend Colin Khoo, Sonoya Mizuno as Colin’s fiancée Araminta Lee, Awkwafina as Rachel’s Singaporean college friend Goh Peik Lin, and Ken Jeong as Peik Lin’s father Goh Wye Mun.

As evidenced by the Crazy Rich Asians cast list, the film is set to be a rare production that features an all-Asian cast, which seems to be somewhat of an answer to the numerous instances of whitewashing (casting white actors in historically non-white roles) in Hollywood. Yeoh spoke to EW about the rarity of an all-Asian cast on a film, saying, “It’s been too long since there’s been an all-Asian cast. I’ve been very lucky to have worked on one before [2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha], but they’re too few and far between.”

Certainly Yeoh isn’t the only moviegoer excited about Crazy Rich Asians putting the focus on Asian characters, and the movie will undoubtedly feel like a breath of fresh air in Hollywood considering it focuses on a story that may seem familiar but is rooted in a setting that hasn’t been depicted too often in film. Of course, whether the film strikes a chord with critics and viewers remains to be seen until its summer 2018 release date, but for now, fans looking forward to Crazy Rich Asians finally have their first look at the production.

Source: EW [1, 2], THR