Jon M. Chu won't make Crazy Rich Asians sequel 'unless it's worth it'

Jon M. Chu won't make a sequel to his 2018 smash hit Crazy Rich Asians until he finds a story that is worth everyone's time.

The Wicked director told Deadline's Crew Call podcast that he won't reunite his stars - Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan and Awkwafina - for a sequel unless there's a script which is as good as the original.

"I won't bring everyone back unless it's worth it. There's too much on the line for everybody," he stated. "I want the best thing. I want it to be worthy of what Crazy Rich Asians 1 was.

"And there's no way I'm dragging the audience back. There's no way the bar is too high. So, in time when we when we get there, we will."

The romantic comedy, based on a novel by Kevin Kwan, follows a New Yorker named Rachel who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend Nick's family at his best friend's wedding.

The film was a major critical and commercial success and it was swiftly announced that Kwan's follow-up novels, China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems, would be adapted into movies too. Original screenwriters Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim were set to pen the sequels, but Lim left over a pay dispute.

The follow-up, which is now rumoured to incorporate both books, is now being written by Amy Wang.

Chu explained on the podcast that the script has gone through many "different versions" but they haven't found the right one yet.

"It's hard because people think the first movie is like the book, but it actually is not. It's the right spirit, but the plotting is very different," he shared. "And so, you can't just go and translate. And we've tried versions and the fact is, is that we just haven't gotten there."

The In the Heights filmmaker added that he was now more focused on bringing a stage adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians to Broadway. The project was announced in April, with Chu set to direct the stage musical.