The Delay Monster has come for Eddie Murphy at last. The insatiable 2020-born behemoth that has ravaged many other franchises over the last eight months has now set its sights on Murphy’s Coming 2 America, the sequel to his 1988 comedy classic. The Craig Brewer-directed sequel was recently acquired from Amazon for something on the order of $125 million, with an eye toward a pre-Christmas release on December 18. On Friday, Amazon Studios further confirmed its acquisition of the film before announcing that the film will hit Amazon Prime just a little later than originally expected, on March 5, 2021.
The sequel arrives 33 years after the original romantic comedy, which was a box office phenomenon and cemented Murphy as a comedic virtuoso. There have been a number of attempts to parlay the film into a franchise—including one failed attempt at a TV spin-off series in 1989—but talks for the late-arriving sequel began in earnest back in 2017 when Kevin Misher was named producer and 0riginal screenwriters David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein were officially attached to the new project. (Black-ish creator Kenya Barris now shares a writing credit for the sequel.) While the official synopsis doesn’t specify as to why the newly crowned King Akeem (Murphy) and his royal companion Semmi (Arsenio Hall) are heading back to Queens, it does confirmed the return original cast members James Earl Jones, Shari Heady, John Amos, and Louie Anderson. Viewers can also look forward to appearances from Wesley Snipes, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Jermaine Fowler, Bella Murphy, Rotimi, KiKi Layne, Nomzamo Mbatha and Teyana Taylor.
“Coming To America was a cultural phenomenon that is one of the most loved and celebrated comedies of all time,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, in a recent statement. “Thanks to Eddie Murphy’s comedic genius along with the brilliant filmmakers, writers and fabulous cast, we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this new adventure.”