One day, there will be good news for theaters again, we think. We hope people out there in the world remember how great it was to gather together and enjoy movies on the big screen when you could feed off of both a crowd’s energy and whatever your concession of choice was. But, sadly, this is not that day, as Deadline broke the news Tuesday that the Craig Brewer-directed Coming 2 America, the highly-anticipated sequel to Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America, will be heading to Amazon Prime Video for a year-end release. Paramount sold the rights to the tech giant for a cool $125 million, and fuck it, we bet they’ll just go ahead and buy out AMC Theaters while they’re at it. Remember when they were floating that possibility back in May?
Anyway, we should be happier that, at the very least, we’ll be able to see the further adventures of Prince Akeem in some form before the end of the year, but we can’t help but be a little bummed that we won’t be able to hear the roar of a crowd at this one. It sounds pretty fantastic, all things considered, and here’s how a Variety article about the same subject described the sequel’s plot:
“In the sequel, Prince Akeem is set to become king of the fictional country of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son he never knew about in America — a street-savvy Queens native named Lavelle. To honor the former king’s dying wish to groom his grandson as the crown prince, Akeem and Semmi set off to America.”
Coming 2 America will hit Amazon Prime Video on December 18, if reports are to be believed, and, apparently, will be followed by a series of merchandising tie-ins involving McDonald’s (duh) and Crown Royal. We’re curious how this will affect the film’s reception — there was a notable difference between how critics received Dolemite is My Name when they saw it with a crowd versus a screener at home. But, then again, it’s probably for the best so you don’t get tossed out of a COVID-era movie theater for laughing too hard at Eddie Murphy because laughter spreads germs.