‘Coming 2 America’ Trailer: Eddie Murphy Returns as King Akeem 32 Years Later

Over three decades after Eddie Murphy starred as Prince Akeem in “Coming to America,” the comedian is bringing the character back — this time as the newly crowned King Akeem — in “Coming 2 America.” Below, find the first trailer for the long-awaited sequel. The movie, originally planned for theatrical release by Paramount, will instead drop on Amazon Prime Video on March 5. It follows Akeem as he returns to New York City in a quest to reunite with his long-lost son (Jermaine Fowler), a Queens native whom Akeem must groom to be the next crown prince of Zamunda.

Here’s Amazon’s official synopsis: “Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began.”

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“Original cast favorites from Coming to America return including King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones), Queen Lisa (Shari Headley), Cleo McDowell (John Amos), Maurice (Louie Anderson) and the motley barbershop crew. Joining this star-studded ensemble are Wesley Snipes, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Jermaine Fowler, Bella Murphy, Rotimi, KiKi Layne, Nomzamo Mbatha and Teyana Taylor, making ‘Coming 2 America’ the most anticipated comedy film of the year.”

Indeed, Amazon has hedged its bets on the movie being a huge hit; it reportedly bought the finished film from Paramount for a whopping $125 million. The sequel was written by “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris and “Coming to America” screenwriters Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield. It’s directed by Craig Brewer, whose “Hustle & Flow” earned two Oscar nods and won an Audience Award at Sundance in 2005. He most recently directed Murphy in Netflix’s 2019 Rudy Ray Moore biopic “Dolemite Is My Name.”

Murphy earned wide acclaim for his performance as comedian Moore, including a Golden Globe nomination. It was his highest profile role in a decade, but as IndieWire’s Tambay Obenson reported, Murphy doesn’t like to think of it as a comeback.

The actor is definitely on a roll: He’s set to star in the fourth installment of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise for Netflix. “Beverly Hills Cop III” was released in 1994.

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