‘Coming To America’ Sequel Now Has A Director
After almost 30 years, anEddie Murphyclassic is about to land itself a sequel. Murphy’s 1988 comedy hitComing to Americais poised for a follow-up with a script rewrite fromBlack-ishcreatorKenya Barrisand directorial duties falling toJonathan Levine. If you’ve been wondering what Prince Akeem Joffer has been up to all these years, you’re about to find out. Read more about theComing To Americasequel below.
Deadlineconfirms that theComing To Americasequel is finally moving forward with a director, but this isn’t the first news we’ve heard of the film. Back in April, word broke that Paramount wasdeveloping a sequelwith the original film’s writers,Barry BlausteinandDavid Sheffield. Now comes word that Blaustein and Sheffield’s work will receive a re-write fromBlack-ishcreator Kenya Barris, who also co-wrote the sleeper hitGirls Trip.John Landisdirected the originalComing to America, but the sequel will be left in the hands of Jonathan Levine, director of comedies50/50,Warm Bodies,The Night Beforeand the more recentSnatched.
In the original film, Murphy played Prince Akeem Joffer, heir to the (fictional) African kingdom of Zamunda. On his 21st birthday, Akeem’s parents, the king and queen (James Earl JonesandMadge Sinclair) present him with an arranged bride to wed. Fed up with his pampered lifestyle and not wishing to marry a woman he’s never met, Akeem runs off to America with his friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall). Many fish-out-of-water shenanigans soon follow.
Back in 2013, Hall and Murphy discussed the possibility of a sequel on Hall’sThe Arsenio Hall Show, with Murphy claiming the sequel never happened because the first film kept facing lawsuits due to a man claiming he was the real-life African prince that inspired the story. “WhenComing to Americacame out, there was a big bunch of lawsuits,“saidMurphy. “I’d be out in the club, and this African dude would roll up and say ‘I am the real prince! You stole my life from me!’ And ‘I want my money! I’ll kill you!’ There was so many lawsuits, so we were like, ‘hey!'”
Per Deadline, Murphy is expected to reprise his role, but nothing has been finalized yet. Murphy’s involvement in the project has been up in the air – back in May, he announced on his Twitter feed that he would indeed star in the film, only to laterdelete the tweet, claim his Twitter had been hacked, and then delete his entire Twitter account.
No word on when the possibleComing to Americasequel (which should actually be calledComing 2 Americaor else why bother?) will hit theaters.
