Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to Kevin Kwan’s
Production is slated to kick off in Singapore by spring 2017, Deadline reported. Color Force, which produced “The Hunger Games” series, will develop the movie alongside Ivanhoe Pictures.
The film will follow Jon M. Chu‘s direction and Peter Chiarelli’s script.
“Crazy Rich Asians” follows the lives of Rachel Chu, a Chinese-American economics professor and her boyfriend, Nick Young. The story is being pitched as an intersection of Lauren Weisberger’s “Devil Wears Prada” and Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.”
Color Force’s Nina Jacobson came on board when Kwan’s book was still in the manuscript stage. She told Variety:
“It was just a page turner in and of itself. It was a delight to be taken into this world that as a Westerner I didn’t know. It felt so new and fresh and gave you so much insight.”
A photo posted by Jimmy Teddy (@jimmy.teddy.7) on Sep 24, 2016 at 12:56am PDT
We spoke to Kwan back in August when he revealed much of the book’s motivation:
“No one was really writing about contemporary Asia and what was happening in Asia in 2009. Asia is growing up and enjoying a renaissance with wealth creation which is now being forwarded to the U.S. and Europe. My mission was to showcase this world as accurately as I could.”
Now, Kwan is hyped to see his book come to life. He said in a statement:
“I am beyond thrilled that the amazing film my fans around the world have been waiting for is finally happening. I have such tremendous respect and trust in Nina, Brad, Jon, and Warner Bros, and I know they are going to create an incredible, history-making movie.”
