Karishma Vaswani, Columnist

To Win Back Audiences, Put More Asians Behind the Camera

Representation on screen has improved. Funding and authentic plotlines need to follow.

October 2, 2024 at 8:00 PM UTC

Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.

Simu Liu in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Photographer: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios

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Crazy Rich Asians was a standout cinematic and commercial success, but a rare one. Asian representation on screen may have improved in recent years, but to capitalize on growing audiences, we need to be behind the cameras as well. Ignoring this market means potentially writing off billions of dollars in lost revenue, but also, importantly, neglecting genuine storylines.

The industry is losing out at a time when it can ill-afford to do so. Betting on Asian talent would help. Global cinema revenue is on track to recover from the Covid-19 downturn, but not as fast as executives would like. It’s only in 2026 that sales are expected to surpass 2019 levels, which were peaking in 2018 when Crazy Rich Asians appeared.