Crazy Rich Asians producers turned down 'gigantic payday' at Netflix to ensure film would be in cinemas

'I could sense every lawyer shaking their heads: ‘Ugh, these stupid idealists''

It has been 25 years since a major Hollywood studio through their weight behind a movie with an entirely Asian-American ensemble, when Disney released The Joy Luck Club.

Finally, five years after the book became a worldwide sensation, Crazy Rich Asians reaches cinemas, and getting the adaptation onto the big screen meant a huge pay cut for the creative

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers were initially offered two deals: one by Warner Bros. and the other from Netflix.

The latter streaming service promised seven-figure-minimum paydays for all the stakeholders, along with complete artistic freedom, and a promised trilogy of movies. Warner Bros, who had already outbid all other studios, promised less money but a cinema release.

“I could sense every lawyer shaking their heads: ‘Ugh, these stupid idealists.’ Here, we have a chance for this gigantic payday instantaneously.” says Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians. “But Jon [M. Chu, director] and I both felt this sense of purpose. We needed this to be an old-fashioned cinematic experience, not for fans to sit in front of a TV and just press a button.”

Chu added: “We were gifted this position to make a decision no one else can make, which is turning down the big payday for rolling the dice [on the box office] — but being invited to the big party, which is people paying money to go see us.”

With a $30 million budget, the movie – starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Gemma Chan – looks set to gross at least $20 million opening weekend in the US alone. Crazy Rich Asians reaches US cinemas 15 August and UK cinemas 2 November.