'Crazy Rich Asians' a Milestone for Hollywood Diversity
*By Max Godnick*
The summer box office is about to get even crazier.
The romantic comedy "Crazy Rich Asians" opened nationwide Friday and is already a hit with critics and audiences. The Warner Bros. movie has a 92 percent "fresh" rating on [Rotten Tomatoes] (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crazy_rich_asians/) and is on track to make up to $27 million in its opening weekend, according to box-office analysts.
"I think it's probably going to surpass that just given the buzz and the hype," said Piya Sinha-Roy, the senior movies writer at Entertainment Weekly. "For I think a lot of people, this is just going to hit all the things they wanted for an end of summer romance."
"Crazy Rich Asians" is the first Hollywood movie with an East Asian cast since 1993's "The Joy Luck Club." The ensemble features actors Constance Wu, Ken Jeong, Awkwafina, Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh. In an era where major studios have largely abandoned mid-budget comedies for blockbusters and sequels, the film serves as a welcome throwback and a significant step for progress.
There was "Black Panther," Marvel's first movie about a black superhero from a black director, that has become one fo the top 10 highest-grossing movie of all time, but it's an action movie, not a romantic comedy. "Crazy Rich Asians" represents a watershed moment for actors and stories not typically seen at the summer box office.
"The journey to get this made was actually pretty insane," said Sinha-Roy.
The path for more movies like "Crazy Rich Asians" may depend on how the film performs at the box office.
"I just really hope that studio executives, who for so long said that an East Asian cast could never lead a movie and that audiences weren't going to see it, I hope they're so proven wrong here," Sinha-Roy said.
Some fans have complained that the movie is ["not Asian enough"] (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/asia/crazy-rich-asians-cast-singapore.html) and is limited in the types of characters and cultures it represents. "Crazy Rich Asians" is primarily about a wealthy subgroup of Singapore's Chinese ethnic majority. Wu, one of the stars of the movie, addressed the controversy on [Twitter] (https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/1024449682766852096), acknowledging that the movie "won't represent every Asian American."
"This is such a massive area to cover, there's no way one film can represent everyone," Sinha-Roy said. "We just have to take each milestone as it comes."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/critics-and-audiences-go-crazy-for-crazy-rich-asians).
John Bencich, CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of Achieve Life Sciences discusses a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction; President & CEO OF DiaMedica Therapeutics explains a new ischemic stroke treatment option that expands the window for effective therapy for stroke patients; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Asteroid Rush.'
Catching you up on today's entertainment headlines with the Tribeca Film Festival has kicked off in NYC, "Black Adam," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dropped its first full trailer, the musical "Come From Away" based on a true story set during 9/11 will be closing on Broadway this October, and more.
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
The Elevate Prize Foundation is donating $10,000 to different grassroots organizations based on a theme every month to help scale their work, focusing on a different theme each time. Upcoming prizes will help uplift an organization supporting the LGBTQ community and one mobilizing to help end gun violence. The foundation's CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram joined Cheddar to discuss the initiative and why it's important to uplift these grassroots organizations. "We are identifying social entrepreneurs around the world to help them scale their work. but the ultimate purpose of that is to create the first-ever fanbase for good," she said. "We're trying to make good famous and by inspiring people to think about the role they can play in doing good in the world."
With real estate being a largely male-dominated industry, Stephanie Shojaee, vice president and chief marketing officer at development company Shoma Group, joined Cheddar News to discuss how she took on the gender gap for women to achieve leadership roles, starting at her own company. “It's been very important to teach all the women that work here, especially the younger ones, that they shouldn't change themselves," she said. "You need to be happy with who you are and just keep breaking barriers."
We are already starting to feel the effects of summer. Heat waves in Texas and California are already sending temperatures soaring. That could spell trouble for the nation's power supply. there are new concerns about outages in many areas of the country. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier explains the two main causes of blackouts, and what states are doing to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running.
If you have been on the road this past year, you've probably seen more accidents on the road than you ever have. You're not wrong. Traffic fatalities are not only increasing they are hitting historic highs. Almost 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2021. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier investigates - and finds out why.
U.S. stocks close Tuesday at session highs after a subpar start to the trading day. Tim Chubb, Chief Investment Officer at the wealth advisory firm, Girard, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. 'We're starting to see the moderation of three core things -- we've seen the moderation of prices, we've seen the moderation of wage growth we've seen in the labor market, and we've also seen a moderation of job openings,' he says.
The victims from the USA gymnastics sexual abuse scandal continue to seek justice. Survivors of Larry Nassar are seeking more than one-billion dollars from the FBI for failing to stop the convicted sports doctor when the agency first received allegations. According to a report released by the Justice Department's Inspector General, FBI agents knew
in July of 2015 that Nassar was accused of abusing gymnasts; however, Nassar wasn't arrested until December of 2016. The group that filed the claim includes Olympic medalist Simone Biles and around 90 other women. Louise Radnofsky, sports reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
