The most money blockbuster of the year now has a teaser trailer! Crazy Rich Asians, the heavily anticipated adaptation of the 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, has been in the works since 2014, when Ivanhoe Pictures purchased the rights to the novel. It will finally — finally! — make its way to theaters this summer. Today, star Constance Wu (Fresh Off the Boat) shared the film's first teaser on Instagram. The full trailer will be released Monday.
Crazy Rich Asians is a delirious look at the lives of an uber-wealthy Singaporean family. Constance Wu plays professor Rachel Chu, who discovers that her boyfriend (played by Henry Golding) belongs to one of the wealthiest families in Asia. Awkwafina, who will appear in the upcoming blockbuster Ocean's 8, stars in the film as well, playing Rachel's best friend Goh.
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"Damn Rachel," Goh says in the trailer as they approach Henry's buxom home. "He's like the Asian Bachelor."
The tale follows a fairytale-ish plot, as Henry's mother schemes to get rid of Rachel, who doesn't belong to the tight inner circle of wealthy families in Asia.
Speaking to Good Morning America in March, Wu explained that, all frippery aside, the movie is about love. "Well, really at its heart, it's a love story. And it's a love story with some obstacles, because my character, Rachel, doesn't know how wealthy her boyfriend is," Wu told host Michael Strahan.
The movie is a first: a nearly all-Asian American summer blockbuster, geared for American audiences, that also happens to be a romantic comedy.
"To see Asians and Asian Americans and Asian Australians and Asian British in a context that isn't, like, a period piece, like, a dated piece — contemporary people with contemporary problems, and not just the idea of an Asian, but their real lives," Wu told Entertainment Weekly during the cover shoot for the movie. "I love that it differentiates between somebody who grew up in Asia and my character, who grew up in America and is 100% American. We don't see too many stories that focus on that cultural difference while also celebrating the cultural similarities."
Crazy Rich Asians arrives in theaters August 17, 2018.