The Crazy Rich Asians gang is getting back together. Jon M. Chu, who helmed the groundbreaking film that ruled the box office with a $35.3 million five-day opening, is planning to return for the sequel. Warner Bros.' is moving forward with development on the follow-up, with plans to reunite the first movie's original team, including producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force and John Penotti of Ivanhoe, and also bring back screenwriters Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim.

Chu, whose past credits include 2016's Now You See Me 2 and 2013's G.I. Joe: Retaliation, does have a packed schedule, but sources say he'd likely helm the follow-up to Crazy Rich Asians after shooting the long-awaited adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical, In the Heights, which Warners has scheduled for a June 26, 2020, release.

Warner Bros. has not yet officially greenlighted the sequel (it's standard practice for a studio to take a wait-and-see approach with a new potential franchise) but is moving forward on development. The studio and its CEO and chairman Kevin Tsujihara took a risk by greenlighting a comp-less film starring an all-Asian cast and a very specific story set in Singapore, but with the massive opening weekend results, a strong performance in weeks to come will all but guarantee the sequel is a go. The $30 million production, the first Hollywood studio movie since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club to feature an all-Westernized Asian ensemble, has opened better than any other comedy this year and and any rom-com since 2015’s Trainwreck.

Warner Bros. has the option for Kevin Kwan’s entire trilogy, which includes 2015’s China Rich Girlfriend and 2017’s Rich People Problems. “We have a plan with Kevin for the next two films,” says producer Simpson.

Chu smartly teased the possible sequel in the final moments of the first film. Like any classic romantic comedy, Crazy Rich Asians wraps up happily ever after, with the entire ensemble gathered on the rooftop of Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands resort to celebrate the engagement of Nick (Henry Golding) and Rachel (Constance Wu). But unlike most romantic comedies, the Warner Bros. hit actually ends with a mid-credits scene more commonly seen nowadays in Marvel movies, teasing the subject of the next installment.

The stinger features Nick’s newly single cousin Astrid (Gemma Chan) exchanging meaningful glances at the party with a handsome man (Glee alum Harry Shum Jr.), Charlie Wu, whom fans of Kwan’s novels recognize as Astrid’s first love.

Eagle-eyed viewers spotted Charlie dancing with Astrid in the trailer (a few tantalizing seconds that were instantly immortalized in GIFs), but the moment — which took place earlier in the film, at Colin (Chris Pang) and Araminta's (Sonoya Mizuno) wedding reception — was excised from the film’s final cut, in part to avoid giving the impression that Astrid was leaving her husband, Michael (Pierre Png), for another man.

Instead, Charlie and Astrid’s second chance at romance would take place during a second film, Chu tells THR. “The idea is to tell the story in the next movie,” he says, adding that Shum’s appearance in Crazy Rich Asians was always intended to be a cameo. “I made a promise to Harry, so I’m going to do it.”

In addition to developing Charlie and Astrid’s relationship, China Rich Girlfriend also follows Nick and Rachel to China on her search for her father. But China’s cooperation with such a sequel remains in question, as its government has in recent years strenuously tried to downplay the country’s uber-wealthy class. Crazy Rich Asians has yet to obtain a China release, and a Chinese translation of the 2013 novel was only made available in the country this year.

The other Crazy Rich Asians character with a major plotline in the second book is, surprisingly, Kitty Pong (Fiona Xie), the shameless gold-digging actress who dumps Alistair (Remy Hii) for Bernard Tai (Jimmy O. Yang). As with other actors like Shum, Chu cast the Singaporean star with an eye toward her expanded part in the sequel. “We needed to hire somebody who can really act, because in time she becomes much more significant,” he says. “I think she’s scared that we’re never going to make that one, but we are. I’ll make it happen.”

The main cast, including Golding, Wu and Yeoh, have options in place for the sequels, and, after likely negotiating bigger deals in light of the film's success, would return. The self-described “family” of Crazy Rich Asians has unanimously expressed eagerness to reunite. “I hope there’s something in the future,” leading man Golding, who has Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor and indie Monsoon coming out soon, tells THR. “It would be so much fun to get everybody back together, back to sweaty old Singapore.”

The producers of “Crazy Rich Asians,” which doesn’t release in China till the end of next month, are already warming up plans to shoot the film’s sequel in the Middle Kingdom.

Producer John Penotti, president of SK Global, said that “China Rich Girlfriend” is targeting a shoot in Shanghai. He made the revelation Monday in Los Angeles at the Chinese American Film Festival’s Co-Production Summit.

The sequel is an adaptation of novelist Kevin Kwan’s second book in the “Asians” series. It is located substantially in China and set two years after the events of “Crazy Rich Asians.”

Penotti said that it is currently unclear whether the producers will attempt to structure “China Rich Girlfriend” as an official China-U.S. co-production. ““We certainly tried to make the (first) film as a China-U.S. co-production. But (as a company, we) haven’t been very good at doing co-productions.” “Crazy Rich Asians” was a Warner Bros. Pictures release and presentation, and produced by SK Global, Starlight Culture, Color Force, Ivanhoe Pictures, Electric Somewhere.

It was released in North America in August and in most Asian territories in September and October. To date it has grossed $232 million worldwide, including $177 million in North America.

Obtaining a China release has the potential to lift the film’s results to another level, but five weeks ahead of its outing its expected box-office performance is unclear. “I have no idea whether the film will be a hit in China,” said Adele Lim, the film’s screenwriter. “We tried to make it true to our culture. We knew we couldn’t make every Asian happy, we can’t make every Chinese happy.”

After a prolonged approval process, which often seemed in doubt, the film recently obtained a Nov. 30 release date for China. Penotti said that no cuts have been requested by the censors and regulators in China.

Penotti speculated that the spicier elements of the book may have given the Chinese censors initial cause for concern, and that the finished film’s approval may have been held up by organizational changes within the Chinese government. “We were never told there was something specific. There was an upheaval over the approval process over the last few months. We fell prey to that, rather than anything content-related,” said Penotti.

Kwan’s original book made large play of decadent behavior by the super-rich, and made use of a plot point in which the heroine’s father languished in a Chinese prison. The Jon M. Chu-directed film focused more on the romance and omitted the father character. Chu is expected to direct the sequel.

The title of “China Rich Girlfriend” is a reference to a line in the first movie where the Singapore matriarch, played by Michelle Yeoh, plays down her family’s wealth in comparison with others: “These people aren’t just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich.”

Although director Jon M. Chu had hoped to keep the creative team intact, co-writer Adele Lim no longer is involved with the project, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. At issue is pay parity: Co-writer Peter Chiarelli, as an experienced feature scribe who broke out with 2009's The Proposal, was to be paid a significantly higher fee than Lim, a veteran TV writer who never had penned a feature until Chu hired her to work on the screenplay. (Before Chu boarded the project, producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force already had enlisted Chiarelli to adapt Kevin Kwan's 2013 best-selling novel.)

"Being evaluated that way can't help but make you feel that is how they view my contributions," says Lim, who believes that women and people of color often are regarded as "soy sauce" — hired to sprinkle culturally specific details on a screenplay, rather than credited with the substantive work of crafting the story.

She declined to provide specific figures, but sources say that Warner Bros.' starting offers were $800,000 to $1 million for Chiarelli and $110,000-plus for Lim. Warners explained to Lim's reps that the quotes are industry-standard established ranges based on experience and that making an exception would set a troubling precedent in the business. The talks escalated to studio chairman Toby Emmerich, who backed his business affairs department's stance.

The actors are currently under option, and though they are rapidly booking other projects and even franchises, scheduling isn't expected to impact sequel plans, which at this rate would shoot back-to-back and no sooner than the end of 2020.​​​​​​​