The Crazy Rich Asians media franchise is a novel and film series created by Singaporean-American author Kevin Kwan. The franchise was established with the publication of the novel Crazy Rich Asians in 2013, which was inspired by Kwan's childhood in Singapore.[1][2]Crazy Rich Asians was followed by the novels China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017),[3] as well as the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.
The Crazy Rich Asians novels received positive reviews, became both a national and an international bestseller, and has been translated into over 30 languages.[4][5] In 2013, Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson secured film rights to Crazy Rich Asians.[6] The film was released in the United States on August 15, 2018. Kwan sold the rights to the film for $1[7] and served as executive producer on the film with near total creative control, one of the conditions to selling the rights.[8] The film was the first major Hollywood film with a majority ethnic Asian cast telling a contemporary Asian-American story since 1993's The Joy Luck Club.[citation needed]
Kwan published China Rich Girlfriend in June 2015 and became an international bestseller.[citation needed] On August 15, 2018, it was reported that Kwan had already been tasked with developing a film from the sequel China Rich Girlfriend.[9]
On April 29, 2019, CNBC reported the back-to-back filming of two sequels to Crazy Rich Asians set for filming in 2020.[10]