‘Crazy Rich Asians’ gets the go-ahead to open in China: what does this mean for luxury brands?
Screenings will start from November 30, which could help to revive spending on luxury goods after reports of a third-quarter slowdown
This article was originally written by Yiling Pan and was published on Jing Daily
The romantic comedy-drama Crazy Rich Asians, which has been a summer box-office hit around the world, including the United States, has finally received the green light from mainland China’s regulators for the film to be shown there.
The film, adapted from the bestselling novel by Singaporean-American writer Kevin Kwan, will be released on November 30.
The approval seems to be a surprising move by the Chinese government.
Warner Bros., the producer of Crazy Rich Asians, applied for a licence to show it in China before it was released in August, but failed to hear back, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter.
The long wait for approval for the first major Hollywood film to feature a virtually all-Asian cast made many analysts believe that Beijing was not comfortable about the film’s “very unsocialist celebration of decadence and ostentatious wealth”.
It is worth noting that the timing of the approval of Crazy Rich Asians came only after China’s luxury spending showed signs of a slowdown in recent months.