'Crazy Rich Asians' also looks 'exotic' to Chinese（2）

'Crazy Rich Asians' also looks 'exotic' to Chinese    

Producer John Penotti, actress Michelle Yeoh and director Jon M. Chu take a group selfie with the Chinese audience at the Beijing premiere Nov. 24, 2018. [Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]

For the Chinese audience, after the film hit local theaters last Friday, the film did not seem that real. "The East in the film is not the real East, but the East in American eyes, just like the popular General Tso's Chicken in America, which doesn't really exist in China," Dai Tianwen with Jiemian.com said. "For example, the family in the film love to get together making dumplings. But dumplings are a North China tradition. In South China, Singapore, and South Asia, dumplings should not be considered either a tradition or a popular option. It's pure imagination and mishmash."

Therefore, the rave reviews "Crazy Rich Asians" received initially were not replicated with great applause from China. After six days since its opening, it only grossed a meager 10 million yuan (US$1.45 million) and received a 6.2/10 score from more than 30,000 users on film rating site Douban.com, rather pale in comparison to its American performance.

Nonetheless, "Crazy Rich Asians" does represent a cultural milestone for Asian film to get mainstream attention in America and could change many things in the future. "I think it's wonderful to see so many different-layered, multi-dimensional Asian characters on screen, I think the significance of the movie will be felt for a long time," said South Korean American Ken Jeong, who plays a wealthy father in the film.

"It affects a lot in Hollywood, " director Chu said at the Chinese premiere in Beijing on Nov. 24, "I think when you see such an amazing cast on the big screen -- being funny, being loving, being dramatic, having beautiful voices... All these things together, I think, show the world, especially Hollywood, we are ready after it has been a long time of our absence. I hope this can inspire other young filmmakers and writers from here and all around the world, it's our time to tell our stories and the world wants to hear them."

Chris Pang, a Chinese Australian actor who plays Colin Khoo agreed. He told China.org.cn that as he didn't watch "The Joy Luck Club" in the cinema; so, along with many others worldwide in the West, "Crazy Rich Asians" marked his first view of a modern cast of Asian faces together on the screen.

"This film represents so much more than just the first film to do that in 25 years -- it represents the start of something -- a movement. I'm very interested to see how China will react to a story exploring the traditional Asian values and overseas 'America-born Chinese' values. Here's a fish-out-of-the-water story where both sides of the coin are Asian. However, at heart, it's a film about love, duty and family."

Due to the film's success worldwide, Warner Bros. Pictures has already confirmed to develop a sequel with Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim returning to write a script based on the book's sequel, "China Rich Girlfriend."