"Crazy Rich Asians," the latest Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast, took in an estimated $25.2 million over the weekend — topping the box office in the U.S. and Canada theaters.
Since its debut on Aug. 15, the romantic comedy took in $34 million in five days. The movie, distributed by Warner Bros., cost an estimated $30 million to make.
The movie is the first romantic comedy in almost three years to open with more than $20 million, Reuters reported. In recent years, that genre has struggled at the box office.
A report by The New York Times said the movie's turnout was "all the more impressive" given that theaters have found it harder to fill seats amid the rise of "living room entertainment services" such as Netflix and Amazon.
The director of "Crazy Rich Asians," Jon M. Chu, said on Twitter that the reception for the film had exceeded expectations.
"Crazy Rich Asians," based on a best-selling novel by Singaporean-American Kevin Kwan, tells the story of a New York University professor who travels with her boyfriend to his home country of Singapore — a tiny but wealthy Southeast Asian city-state. There, she discovers that her boyfriend comes from an ultra-rich Singaporean Chinese family and learns about the glitz and glamour of the lives of the elite.
The film, starring Asian American actress Constance Wu and British-Malaysian newcomer Henry Golding, is said to be the first Hollywood English-language movie to feature an all-Asian cast in 25 years — after "The Joy Luck Club" in 1993.
The movie is seen as a watershed moment by many Asian-Americans, much like how African-Americans responded to "Black Panther," The New York Times reported.
WATCH: Why 'Crazy Rich Asians' turned down a big Netflix payday for theater debut
