Only recently Eddie Murphy took to twitter to tease 80’s film fans over a return to set for a Coming to America sequel, subsequently, that tweet and his whole account were deleted after he claimed his account had been hacked.
Fast forward to only a month later, it has now been confirmed that writers of the original, Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, have taken on a contract to pen a sequel to the classic 1988 comedy in which saw Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem of the fictional African nation of Zamunda in a role in which he wanted to know what it was like to be a normal man, one who didn’t need servants to wipe his backside and sow his royal oats before engaging in an arranged marriage with a complete stranger.
Details of the plot are being kept secret, well under lock and key for the time being but Kevin Misher (Carrie 2013, Public Enemies) is reportedly down to produce the follow-up to the original which saw Arsenio Hall play Akeem’s best friend Semmi, James Earl Jones as his father King Jaffe Joffer, Shari Headley as Akeem’s America love interest Lisa McDowell and John Amos as Lisa’s Father, Cleo McDowell. We even saw a pre-pulp fictionesq appearance from Samuel L. Jackson as the vagrant who tried to hold-up McDowell’s restaurant.
The latest news of a sequel of an 80’s classic comes hot on the heels of another which has just been announced, a spin-off of the 1986 David Bowie lead Labyrinth, which is to be helmed by Fede Alvarez. Bringing these cult classics back to life roughly thirty years after the original outings may prove less than fruitful for the studios undertaking such tasks. The original audiences may take an interest for nostalgic reasons but can they really appeal to a whole new generation of film fans? Only time will tell.
