China's film regulator generally allows only 34 foreign films to be shown in theaters each year. By getting one of those coveted slots, you can significantly improve the overall performance of a movie's box office. Several big-budget Hollywood movies like "Ready Player One" and "Black Panther" had bigger debuts in China than in North America.
"Crazy Rich Asians" has a different title for China that translates roughly as "Tales of Gold Digging". That is at odds with the story of the film in which the main character has no idea of the incredible family wealth of her boyfriend from Singapore. When he arrived in Hong Kong at the end of August, the title was translated "My super rich boyfriend".
Warner Bros. did not respond to a request for comment on whether any changes had been made to the film at the request of the Chinese regulator.
The creators of "Crazy Rich Asia" expected a career in the second largest film market in the world.
"Crazy Rich Asians" was a hit at the end of the summer in the United States and since then has launched in dozens of countries, from Australia to Venezuela. It has earned $ 228 million worldwide so far.
(Warner Bros., like CNN, is owned by WarnerMedia).
Eric Cheung, Yazhou Sun and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.