Damn, 'Coming 2 America' Actually Looks Pretty Good

Akeem and Semmi return to Queens in the first-look Coming 2 America photos.

At long last, the first official photos from the set of Coming 2 America have arrived. After the film was pushed back from its original August 7 and December 18 release dates, Amazon Studios bought the film's rights for $125 million. The movie will hit Amazon Prime Video worldwide on March 5, 2021.

In addition to Eddie Murphy and director Craig Brewer, most of the original cast returns this time around. Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley, John Amos, Paul Bates, and James Earl Jones are back, as well as Vanessa Belle Calloway, Garcelle Beauvais, and Louis Anderson. Newcomers include Tracy Morgan, Luenell, Teyana Taylor and Michael Blackson. Samuel L. Jackson, who made a brief appearance in the 1988 film, will not be returning.

For the 2021 sequel, Akeem and Semmi return to Queens. In the process of becoming king of Zamunda, Akeem finds out that he has a long-lost son in the United States. Brewer spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the sequel.

"The conversations that Eddie and I were having was just about, where does Coming to America sit in people's hearts?" he said. "It's a cultural touchstone for a lot of people. Luckily I’ve laid myself on the tracks before with doing a remake of Footloose, so I kind of knew we can’t be paralyzed by what people are going to want."

Despite the lofty expectations, Brewer promises the viewers will be satisfied.

'It’s such a nostalgia celebration," he continued, "especially for people our age. Even in the opening couple shots you’re just smiling, because you’re like, “Oh, that’s right, I forgot about rose petals.” But we’ve got to have a heart in it. We’ve got to have something that Akeem is dealing with, and I think what is particularly special about our movie is the dynamic that is happening with the audience and the characters.

Stream Coming 2 America on Amazon Prime Video March 5, 2021.