Sometimes news comes across the waves, that’s both exciting and unexpected. Other times news can give you pause or make you scratch your head a little. Today we’ve got all those feelings, tied into one story. Seemingly against the odds, Deadline has a story that Coming To America 2 is officially happening. With Eddie Murphy reprising his role of Prince Akeem. The 1988 film was a massive hit, telling the story of Prince from Zamunda, who goes undercover in America, searching for bride who can wow him through her intellect and will.
The news doesn’t end there though, as a director has been brought on board, as well. Taking over the reigns from Landis is Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow). A rather intriguing move, seeing how Brewer isn’t known for his comedic chops. Unless Black Snake Moan was really a scathing satire disguised as something else (it wasn’t). More over it’s an indictment of just how well Murphy and Brewer got along while recently making Dolemite Is My Name. In fact, Murphy expresses that sentiment in a statement to Deadline:
“After many years of anticipation, I’m thrilled that Coming to America 2 is officially moving forward. We’ve assembled a great team that will be led by Craig Brewer, who just did an amazing job on Dolemite. I’m looking forward to bringing all these classic and beloved characters back to the big screen.”
The plan is to bring back as many members of the original cast as possible. Including, but not limited to, Arsenio Hall as Semmi, Shari Deadly as Lisa (Akeem’s love interest), Jon Amos as her father and even James Earl Jones. It’s a wonder how they’ll all tie into the plot, which Deadline only seemed to have the basic outline of. In the sequel Akeem must return to America, after hearing he has a long lost son. He must meet him to fulfill the long standing Zamundan tradition of the oldest male heir inheriting the throne.
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time news of Coming To America 2 has popped up. Last summer original scribes David Sheffield and Barry Blaustein revealed they were working on a script. The only thing to change in the last few months is another name will be added whenever the film hits the big screen. Paramount hired Black-ish creator Kenya Barris to do a rewrite of the initial screenplay.
Given how this information appeared out of the blue, there’s not much else known about the sequel at this time. Word is they’re shooting to begin production sometime in 2019. As this is Janurary, that could mean literally everything. As soon as any other developments crop up, we’ll bring you the latest details. In the meantime, if you haven’t watched Coming To America in a while, this seems like a good opportunity to do so. At least make sure to revisit the barbershop scenes and be reminded of the fact that the film was nominated for an Oscar.
