Following the great success of Coming 2 America on the platform, Eddie Murphy has closed a three-picture and first-look deal with Amazon Studios (via Deadline). Under the new deal, Murphy will star in three films for Amazon Studios and develop original film projects for Prime Video and Studios with the potential to star.
The deal just emphasizes how much success that Murphy actually had with Amazon following the success of the Coming To America sequel. The film was acquired from Paramount Pictures during the pandemic for $125 million and when it was released on March 5, 2021, the comedy was the #1 streaming movie of the weekend, with the #1 opening weekend of any streaming movie in the past 12 months (post-COVID theater closures). Coming 2 America also topped Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings among all streamed SVOD content. Head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, had this to say about the new deal with Murphy:
“Eddie is a legend both in front of and behind the camera. With undeniable comedic and dramatic genius, he consistently delivers entertaining, original stories and characters to audiences around the world. We could not be more excited to help carry on the tradition and to officially welcome Eddie into the Amazon family.”
As for what is next for Murphy, he will produce and star in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop 4 and star opposite Jonah Hill in a Kenya Barris-directed comedy for Netflix. He has also discussed a return to standup comedy which was in full swing before the pandemic so as things ease up, I’m sure he will revisit that return with some seriousness.
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