I have no idea if they're thinking the leftist demographic will carry the movie or not. I think it has more to do with Asian Americans being rich and Asian stuff has been getting popular one after another (anime/manga, k-dramas, k-pop, MDZS, etc.). So I think they're trying to tap into the Asian-philia.

Given the popularity of k-pop, I feel like they should've gone with a Korean-American lead first. >.>;