Amazon Gives Its First Look At Coming 2 America

It's been 32 years since Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall starred in John Landis' iconic comedy Coming to America. Next year, Prince Akeem and his trusty friend Semmi, as well as the rest of the royal family are reuniting in Coming 2 America, which arrives March 5, exclusively on Amazon Prime.

This time around, while Akeem prepares to become king, he learns that he fathered a son (played by comedian Jermaine Fowler) with a local woman, Lavelle, played by SNL alumni Leslie Jones. Joining Fowler and Jones as newcomers to the series are KiKi Layne, Tracy Morgan, rapper Rick Ross, and Wesley Snipes. Returning to Queens we have Coming to America alums Shari Headley, Paul Bates, John Amos, Louis Anderson, and James Earl Jones.

"I';m a kid of the ‘80s, and so that means I'm a student of Eddie Murphy," director Craig Brewer told EW. Brewer, who had previously worked with Murphy on Netflix's Dolemite Is My Name, explained the importance of Murphy's impact on pop culture and what he meant personally to him growing up.

"I try to explain to young people what that moment was like when Eddie came onto the scene. It has not been equaled; he was electrifying. Every movie he was in I went to go see, all of the Saturday Night Live episodes I not only watched them, I taped them on my Betamax and watched them back again," Brewer said. "So Coming to America was that movie for my dad, and even my grandmother. She would always tell people, before Hustle & Flow came along, of course, Coming to America is my favorite movie, but don't tell anybody what my second favorite movie is. It's that Dirty Dancing."

Coming to America is one of the most cherished movies of Murphy's catalog. The original was the highest-earning film in 1988 for Paramount and the third-highest-grossing film at the domestic box office.

"I think what is particularly special about our movie is the dynamic that is happening with the audience and the characters," Brewer said. "This would be very different if there was a Coming to America that came out the year after Coming to America, right? I think Eddie and I were excited and challenged to make it meaningful as well as hilarious."