Draft:China Rich Girlfriend (film)

China Rich Girlfriend is an upcoming American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu. It is based on the 2015 book of the same name by Kevin Kwan and will be released by Warner Bros. The film is a sequel to Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and is followed by Rich People Problems.

Cast

 * Constance Wu as Rachel Chu
 * Henry Golding as Nicholas "Nick" Young
 * Gemma Chan as Astrid Leong-Teo
 * Awkwafina as Goh Peik Lin
 * Ken Jeong as Goh Wye Mun
 * Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Sung-Young
 * Tan Kheng Hua as Kerry Chu

Development
On August 22, 2018, Time Magazine reported that Kwan has been tasked with developing the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians from his follow-up novel China Rich Girlfriend. The planning was still in pre-production as of August 2018, with several of the key actors currently committed to other projects until 2020. Director Jon Chu was also already committed to shoot the film adaptation of In the Heights, which was scheduled for release in June 2021.

Awkwafina was interviewed in January 2019 and indicated that there were still no scripts for the sequel and that production filming had not started. According to Town and Country magazine, the filming and premiere of the film were not scheduled to take place until 2020. According to a Slash film journal article, the two sequels, including Rich People Problems, were set to be shot back-to-back in 2020 once the filming commences. Shooting was expected to be delayed until at least the end of 2020. Screenwriter Adele Lim declined to work on the sequels because of an equal-pay inequity dispute during negotiations in fall 2018. Color Force had hired the experienced Peter Chiarelli to write the screenplay for the Crazy Rich Asians adaptation; when Chu joined the original production, he brought Lim on to add authentic details from Singapore and Malaysia. For the sequels, Warner Bros. had initially offered Lim a salary approximately $1/undefined$th of Chiarelli's pay; although they later made an offer closer in parity to Chiarelli's, who had offered to split his fee with Lim, Lim declined.

In 2021, Henry F Golding said he bugs the direct about it. In December 2022, when she was asked about the sequel, Michelle Yeoh told E! News that “We are still waiting on it...We know there's a writer on it, so we'll see. Fingers crossed.” In January 2023, Harry Shum Jr. said he had no information and is waiting on the film as everyone else is.

Casting
On April 29, 2019, CNBC reported that Harry Shum Jr. was to be cast in the role of playing Astrid's previous boyfriend in the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, stating, "Shum will play Charlie Wu, the former flame of Astrid Young Teo (played by Gemma Chan), cousin of lead character Nick Young, in China Rich Girlfriend, which is currently in pre-production." The sequel film was expected to focus on the relationship between Charlie and Astrid, the search for Rachel's father, and Kitty Pong.

In April 2020, a person on Twitter purported to be actor Alan Baltes posted a notice where the films China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems were casting Asian actors in their 20s to 40s and a Caucasian female from 25 to 35 for lead roles “via Zoom”. It had also charged a $99 submission fee for per audition. Chu and the producer called it a scam and said they do not have a casting director, and have not done an open casting call.

Sequel
Prior to the film's release, Jon M. Chu said he would be eager to direct a sequel if the first film was a success, stating, "We have other stories outside of the Crazy Rich Asians world that are ready to be told too, from filmmakers and storytellers who haven't had their stories told yet." On August 22, 2018, following the film's strong opening, Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed a sequel was in development, with Chiarelli and Lim returning to write the script, based on the book's sequel, China Rich Girlfriend. Chu and actors Wu, Golding, and Yeoh all have options for a sequel, although several of the key actors were committed to other projects until 2020. Producer Nina Jacobson later announced that China Rich Girlfriend and an adaptation of the final installment in Kwan's trilogy, Rich People Problems, would be filmed back-to-back in 2020 to reduce the wait time between those two films.