Color Force, the production company responsible for “The Hunger Games” and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” has acquired the film rights to “Crazy Rich Asians,” Kevin Kawn's bestselling debut novel. The book adopts the time-old literary tradition of skewering snobby aristocrats but sets it in the home of monied Chinese families.
The book follows an heir to one of the wealthiest families in Asia who brings his American-born Chinese girlfriend home for a lavish wedding. It then delves into three different families whose combination of fortunes and insecurities breed gossiping, scheming and betrayal.
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Critics lavished Kwan’s novel with praise — the Guardian, New York Times and Wall Street Journal all labeled it a must-read this summer. The Times’ Janet Maslin described it as “wickedly delectable.”
“‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is that immersive page turner I am constantly searching for but so rarely find,” Color Force CEO Nina Jacobson said in a statement. “Kevin's writing took me into a world I'd never seen or imagined and got me so invested in the romance at the heart of it that I could not put the book down until I saw whether or not they made it. This novel represents an enormous opportunity for Color Force to tell a universal story to a global audience.”
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UTA, Janklow & Nesbit and Licther, Grossman, Nicholas, Adler & Feldman represented Kwan in the deal. UTA and Color Force are seeking international financing for the movie, which they aim to produce outside the studio system.
Jacobson, the former president of Disney’ Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, will produce the film with her partner Brad Simpson. Bryan Unkeless, the company’s SVP of production, will oversee development.