Paramount wants a Coming to America sequel with Eddie Murphy to star

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Whoa, so apparently a sequel to the 1988 comedy COMING TO AMERICA starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall is in underway, with original writers Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield working on a script in the hope that Murphy will return as the royal Prince Akeem. With Kevin Misher set to produce the project, all of the details concerning COMING TO AMERICA 2 are currently being kept under lock and key by those in charge. 

For those of you who've never seen the hilarious original film, COMING TO AMERICA features Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem Joffer, who travels from the fictional African nation of Zamunda with his friend and confidant Semmi (Arsenio Hall) to Queens, New York with the goal of finding a free-thinking woman for the Prince to woe and wed for the benefit of Zamunda's future.

COMING TO AMERICA featured stars James Earl Jones, Shari Headley and John Amos, as well as Louie Anderson, Jake Steinfeld, Allison Dean, Frankie Faison, Eriq La Salle and Paul Bates. At the time, the film earned a worldwide total of $288 million at the box office and even produced a spinoff series that was aimed at television audiences.

Hmmm … I'm not so sure about this. COMING TO AMERICA holds a very special place in my heart as being sort of an "SNL salad days" kind of film when those who contributed to its brilliance were at their peak. While the thought of the original writers returning to the property has me slightly optimistic, I'll need a solid trailer or some good word of mouth before I become a believer in this venture. It's been a good number of years since Murphy has done anything of note, though it would be fun to see him get back in the makeup chair to assume multiple roles as he did in the first film. For me, this is a total wait and see situation.

While we wait for more details, you can check out Eddie Murphy in MR. CHRUCH, which was released in September of 2016.