The SAG ensemble award has been linked as a good precursor for the Best Picture Oscar nominees. The annual rate is that 4 of the 5 SAG nominees usually make it onto Oscar's final 7-9 shortlist of films — which makes today's mind-boggling decision to nominate "Crazy Rich Asians," for best ensemble cast, a little bewildering.
Read more'Crazy Rich Asians' Is Now The Highest-Grossing Romantic Comedy In A Decade
Despite my mixed review of the film, I couldn't be happier for the success "Crazy Rich Asians" at the American box-office. The latest news on this landmark film is that it has just become the highest-grossing romantic comedy in 10 years, surpassing 2009′s “The Proposal” [via Box Office Mojo].
Read moreHollywood and China: Chinese Movie Star Still Missing, "Crazy Rich Asians" Not Being Released in China and Government Crackdowns
Something very sketchy is happening in China's film community. A THR article has this subheadline:
"With Fan Bingbing accused of tax fraud, 'Crazy Rich Asians' failing to land a Chinese release and film stocks plummeting, president Xi Jinping's crackdown on "money worship" is reshaping the country's cultural landscape: "The government is going to make examples out of a lot of high-profile people."
Read more'Crazy Rich Asians' Tops Box-Office for Third Week in a Row, passes $100M mark
'Crazy Rich Asians' keep chuggin' along at the weekend box-office. For a third weekend in a row the John Chu-directed picture topped the box-office by not really losing much momentum and making close to $22M over labor day weekend. The lack of major new releases definitely helped in that regard, 'Asians' has now made $112M domestically, a hell of an accomplishment, especially for a film touted as the having an All-Asian cast, unheard of in Hollywood as its been close to 25 years since the last film to feature such a cast (1993's "The Joy Luck Club.")
Read moreReview: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Is a Cultural Groundbreaker Steeped With Familiarity and Cliches
Despite the expected weekly barrage of summer blockbusters, it’s fairly hard for film writers to resist the culturally significant "Crazy Rich Asians." The film, directed by John Chu (“Step Up: 3D“) is the first Hollywood studio film with an all-Asian cast since 1993’s ‘The Joy Luck Club.” That’s 25 years of major studios shunning the Asian-American experience for the bottom line. Enter critically-acclaimed novelist Kevin Kwan.
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