Amazon Studios has released the official teaser trailer for Coming 2 America, the upcoming sequel to 1988's Coming to America. Admittedly, I've never seen the original film as my dad was more of a Beverly Hills Cop/48 Hrs. guy and never spent near as much time relaying lines from Trading Places or Coming to America. I feel like I've seen bits and pieces of the film, but I know for a fact I've never sat down to watch the whole thing back to front. Needless to say, one of my earliest New Years Resolutions will be to rectify that and watch Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall's 1988 collaboration in anticipation of the thirty-three year-later sequel that not only reunites Murphy and Hall and Murphy and Hall and Murphy and Hall in a dozen or so roles, but also brings back the likes of Garcelle Beauvais, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Shari Headley, Louis Anderson, and Vanessa Bell Calloway. The sequel was directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) who also directed Murphy in the acclaimed Netflix movie Dolemite Is My Name in 2019. Of course, this isn't all nostalgia as the new film will center on Murphy's Akeem, now the king of the fictional and very prosperous African nation of Zamunda, as he returns to New York City after thirty years in search of the son he never knew he had. Newcomers to the Coming 2 America cast include Wesley Snipes, Jermaine Fowler, Teyana Taylor, KiKi Layne, Tracy Morgan, and Leslie Jones. Though it's difficult to say without having seen the first yet it will be fascinating to note the differences and similarities in watching the only two films in a franchise essentially back to back despite being made over three decades apart. Given the last time Akeem visited the U.S. was when Ronald Reagan was president there should be a fine amount of relevant material to work with in the political and social commentary realm as well, but we shall see; I'm eager to dive into these films and find out what I've been missing and what I have to look forward to. Amazon acquired Coming 2 America from Paramount Pictures and while Amazon typically has a pretty good theatrical set-up in terms of a window prior to release on Prime it seems as if this acquisition will be skipping theaters altogether and will instead be an exclusive streaming release. Initially, that release was set for December of this year before getting pushed to March 5, 2021.
