Kevin Kwan Wants to Bring a Crazy Rich Chinese Family to American Primetime TV

Crazy Rich Asians creator Kevin Kwan has reportedly inked a deal with CBS for a pilot of a new Asian-centric TV show entitled The Emperor of Malibu. Here’s Variety with some familiar-sounding plot details:

It follows two very different families – one from Shanghai with new money and one from the East coast of the U.S. with old money – that must learn to co-exist when their children get married.

The reports come a couple of weeks after it was confirmed that US box office smash Crazy Rich Asians would finally be getting a Mainland Chinese cinema release at the end of November. And also after the news that Kwan’s best-selling sequel to his Crazy Rich Asians novel — China Rich Girlfriend — will be turned into a movie as well, bringing the story to the Mainland.

Away from Kwan, the Variety article notes that:

This is also the second Asian-centric comedy to be put into development this year. ABC is developing a single-camera comedy from “Rick and Morty” writer Jessica Gao about a first-generation Chinese-American woman who becomes the sole inheritor of her wealthy grandmother’s estate.

Seems like we’re set for quite a few crazy rich Asians on US TV and cinema screens in the coming months and years then. It’ll be interesting to see if any of these projects makes it to China (in an official capacity that is, the pirates will always find a way) and what the reaction will be among audiences in the country if they do.

In a similar vein, here’s our piece from earlier this year on responses to Crazy Rich Asians:

Asia Reacts to “Crazy Rich Asians”: Asians, Americans, and Stars on Film’s Impact

Article Aug 18, 2018