LOS ANGELES, Aug 16 — With the growing buzz surrounding Crazy Rich Asians and its groundbreaking all-Asian cast, the film is poised to generate nearly twice as much box-office revenue as initially expected.

Warner Bros, which released the movie yesterday, increased its five-day projection to US$26 million (RM106.7 million), up from an estimate US$18 million last month. And some independent forecasters are even more bullish. Box Office Mojo now expects the movie to take in US$35 million through its first weekend in theatres.

It’s not uncommon for movies with minority casts to exceed early expectations. Last year’s Girls Trip, a movie with a female, African-American ensemble, generated about 50 per cent more in its debut than predicted. This year’s Black Panther and 2017’s Get Out, which feature African-Americans in leading roles, also were bigger hits than initially projected.

With Crazy Rich Asians, the hope is that a successful film about Asians and Asian-Americans will open the door to more such movies. Online ticket seller Fandango says that advance ticket sales are already outpacing those of Girls Trip, which opened to US$31 million last summer. They’re also among the best results for a comedy release all summer, the company said.

Still, sales can be hard to predict. Just this weekend, prehistoric-shark thriller The Meg did better than expected, unseating the latest Mission: Impossible film from its No. 1 perch at the box office.

There has been a tendency by studios and box-office analysts to underestimate the draw of women and minorities appearing in movies. And that can affect decisions earlier in the process. Filmmakers often determine whether to greenlight a movie — or give it a big budget — based on the forecasts.

Crazy Rich Asians is being released almost exactly 25 years after The Joy Luck Club, the last Hollywood film built around an all-Asian cast. Despite lacking representation in Hollywood, Asians tend to see more movies than average US moviegoers, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. — Bloomberg