Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy is easily remembered as one of the biggest comedians in recent times. But before he was identified with family-friendly fare like voicing Donkey in Dreamworks’ “Shrek” film series, he dealt in more adult-leaning humor as part of “Saturday Night Live” during the eighties, and also starred in films of the same vein such as the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies and the 1988 rom-com “Coming to America.” This movie revived the popular cinematic storyline of the disguised royal figure living like a commoner, and was a critical box office success. Now, in the vein of Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” a rather distant follow-up is now being planned.
CNN reports that Paramount Pictures, which released the first “Coming to America” over 30 years ago, has announced the prospective release date of a sequel, also starring Eddie Murphy. It will be due to arrive in cinemas in the middle of 2020. Slated to direct “Coming to America 2” is Craig Brewer, late of “Hustle & Flow”, while Kenya Barris will serve as executive producer. The latter has been on board a project to make a sequel, even being put to rewrite a script done by the original film’s writers, David Sheffield and Barry Blaustein.
While the official Paramount announcement of the “Coming to America” follow-up’s release date did not mention a lot of details about the plot, which picks up from the 1988 adventures of Prince Akeem of the African nation of Zamunda, who went to New York City undercover as an exchange student to find an “independent woman” to marry who would love him as he is and not by his royal titles. The original movie also starred Arsenio Hall as Akeem’s friend and aide Semmi, James Earl Jones as Akeem’s father King Jaffe, Madge Sinclair as Queen Aoleon, and Shari Headley as Akeem’s prospective independent girlfriend, Lisa.
The sequel storyline according to Deadline entails now-King Akeem learning of a long-lost son of his in America, spurring him to return there to search for his possible heir to the throne of Zamunda. The concept of children is rather fitting for the 57-year-old Eddie Murphy at this point, as he became father to his tenth child only last year, a son named Max Charles Murphy by his current fiancée Paige Butcher. Fans who remember “Coming to America” and the Eddie Murphy of that time will have to wait until August 7, 2020 to see if the sequel, like “Mary Poppins Returns” can hold up to its predecessor at least.
Image courtesy of Entertainment.ie
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