Coming 2 America released after 33 years, but there's a good reason why it didn't happen before 2021. Coming to America was a culturally iconic romantic comedy that, along with his work on Saturday Night Live and his hilariously charming role as Donkey in the Shrek series, was arguably Eddie Murphy's best performance. He played Akeem (along with other characters such as Randy Watson, Clarence, and Saul), an African prince from the nation of Zamunda. After turning down an arranged marriage proposal, he and his valet, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), go to New York City and attempt to blend in as exchange students while Akeem searches for authentic love.
The film was a smash hit. Aside from its permeation into pop culture and multiple nominations for makeup and costume-related accolades, it also racked up a handful of awards and nominations. In 1988, Murphy's role as Akeem and multiple other characters made him a nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture in the NAACP's Image Awards, and director John Landis won the show's award for Outstanding Motion Picture. And Arsenio Hall would win the Image Awards' Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for the film in 1990. So, when Amazon Studios bought Coming 2 America for $125 million in October 2020, it wasn't a shock. The sequel is set to chronicle Zamunda's now-king on his journey back to New York City, in order to find and connect with a son that he only recently found out about.
But why the wait? After all, it's been over three decades. In an interview with Extra, Murphy recently revealed that he had never considered making a follow-up to Coming to America before the last few years. He said, "[w]e never planned on making a sequel to the movie...But the movie stayed around. Of all the movies I've done over the last forty years, Coming to America is the only one that has a cult following." He was surprised to see how channels like VH1 would play all-day marathons of the film on Christmas, and how it still receives heavy TV rotation. He also recognizes the lasting impact the movie has made on pop culture, noting how people will still dress up as characters from the movie on Halloween, as well the lingering legacy of the quote, "Sexual chocolate!" According to him, Coming to America even featured the first "mic drop" moment via Murphy's character Randy Watson, referring to after he and his soul band finish a performance. So, five or six years ago, he had the urge to make a sequel. He says the movie itself took about four years "to come together" before shooting.
Just like the original, Coming 2 America boasts an ensemble cast of notable and funny folks, including the likes of fellow SNL veterans Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones, as well as other big names like Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones (who were both in the first film), and even Wesley Snipes. In interviews with the San Francisco Chronicle, Morgan and Jones have voiced how close to their heart Coming to America was when it first arrived in the '80s, specifically as Black people. "I am Black, so I have a place in my heart for it. I would say I hold all of Eddie Murphy’s movies dearly...It [Coming to America] looked beautiful. The costumes were beautiful. The actors were great. The plot was great,” Jones said. Morgan echoed a similar sentiment: "As a person - especially as a Black person - it was a Black fairy tale. It was important for me to see Africa in a different light. It was important for me to see royalty - Black royalty, Black excellence.”
Coming 2 America is a long-awaited sequel that both fans and Eddie Murphy initially didn't know they needed. And it's perfectly timed with the lingering effects of COVID-19 and prompting streaming giants like Amazon and Netflix to continually add new movies and shows to their platforms. "There were times on the set where you could feel the warmth that the other actors had for the characters they were playing," Murphy said in the Extra interview. Surely the warmth will be both received and reciprocated by audiences.