Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall rule in 'Coming 2 America' trailer - Los Angeles Times
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In ‘Coming 2 America’ trailer, it’s the Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall show

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Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem is heading back to the U.S. — this time to find his son, not a bride — in “Coming 2 America,” the long-awaited sequel to Paramount Pictures’ 1988 comedy fable.

Murphy, Arsenio Hall and the band of zany characters they played in the original film are all back in the new teaser trailer, which dropped Tuesday after photos from the film went public last week. The Amazon Prime Video follow-up again stars James Earl Jones and Shari Headley and features new faces including Leslie Jones, Teyana Taylor, Jermaine Fowler, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne and Wesley Snipes.

But given Tuesday’s teaser, it’s all about the numerous characters Murphy and Hall bring back to life in the new film — particularly those infamous barbershop personalities who welcome back their foreign patrons with jabs only Murphy and Hall can absorb. (You’ll have to see them for yourself in the trailer above.)

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Eddie Murphy, speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival, confirmed returning characters to the sequel of “Coming to America,” including Randy Watson and the band Sexual Chocolate.

Sept. 8, 2019

Murphy’s Akeem is now king of the lush country of Zumunda and is charged by his father (Jones) to seek out the next male heir, a son Akeem never knew he had, in New York City.

So, the former “McDowell’s” employee-of-the-month boards his gilded jet bound for the Big Apple along with his reluctant sidekick Semmi (Hall), returning to Queens to find Akeem’s son. Of course, a whole new batch of princely garbage, hijinks and cultural malapropisms awaits.

Paramount, which infamously dueled Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Art Buchwald in a net-profit lawsuit over the 1988 comedy, originally planned a theatrical release for the long-gestating project this month. But the studio unloaded it on Amazon in a reported $125-million global rights deal. The e-commerce giant will begin streaming “Coming 2 America” on March 5, likely hoping to replicate the success of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” from this fall.

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Barry Blaustein, the co-screenwriter of “Coming to America,” denounced writer Art Buchwald and producer Alain Bernheim for claiming credit for “creating” the 1988 hit comedy, as testimony in the long-running civil case ended Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

March 7, 1992

Kenya Barris, the “black-ish” creator, penned the script with the original film’s writers, Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield. “Coming 2 America” is directed by Craig Brewer, who helmed Murphy’s “Dolemite Is My Name” as well as “Hustle & Flow” and several episodes of Fox’s musical drama “Empire.”

“Dolemite” costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who won an Oscar for her work on Marvel’s “Black Panther,” brings her dazzling Wakanda-style A-game to the wardrobe of the film.

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