'Coming 2 America' is Coming 2 Amazon

Another week another major movie is skipping the big screen for a streaming service

Although rumored for a while, it is now official. Eddie Murphy’s comedy sequel “Coming 2 America” has moved from Paramount to Amazon Studios who will now distribute the follow up to Murphy’s 1988 blockbuster on its Prime Video service this December.

The streaming E-commerce giant has paid an astonishing $125 million for the rights to the film which will give Paramount another huge payday to weather the COVID-19 challenged environment but will hurt exhibitors who need major films to keep business going especially after being shutdown for many months.

Murphy will be reprising his role as Prince Akeem as will original cast members Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones. John Landis directed the original film which was a major blockbuster in 1988 grossing nearly $300 million worldwide. The film was focused on Akeem, Prince of Africa who along with his partner travel to New York City to avoid an arranged marriage.

The sequel sees Akeem about to be crowned King when he finds out he has a son that he didn’t know he had living in the Big Apple. This once again leads to another surely hilarious misadventure. New cast members include Jermaine Fowler, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones and Wesley Snipes. Craig Brewer will direct the film reuniting him with Murphy after the comedian’s successful comeback film “Dolemite Is My Name”.

Paramount has certainly gotten very comfortable with giving their films away to streaming services thanks to the uncertainty surrounding theatres re-openings particularly in New York and Los Angeles, the two biggest markets in the country. The studio offloaded “The Lovebirds” and “The Trial of The Chicago 7” to Netflix (although the latter is playing in select theatres right now before hitting the platform Friday) and the Tom Clancy thriller “Without Remorse” with Michael B. Jordan. This move makes sense here as even before COVID, many comedies were struggling at the box office and putting a film like this out in the marketplace at a time when people need laughter is something Amazon is hoping will pay off this holiday season.

Coming 2 America hits Amazon Prime on December 18.