At this point it's becoming hard to fathom how much of the 2020 slate studios are going to hang onto in the faint hopes U.S. theaters are ever going to open in the near future. This is easily the highest-profile film Paramount has sold yet, and they've sold a bunch so far.
“Coming 2 America” is making one more connection before it arrives to American audiences.
The long-anticipated sequel to the Eddie Murphy classic is in the process of being sold by distributor Paramount Pictures to Amazon Studios, in a deal worth roughly $125 million, insiders said. The expected streaming premiere date is December 18, sources added.
Final details are being hammered out, sources said, including two complex consumer marketing tie-ins with McDonalds and whiskey brand Crown Royal, which are expected to transfer over to Amazon Studios with the film. Murphy, who produced, as well as stars in the film, has to give his blessing.
The sale is said to be a priority for Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke, who has been on the hunt for more commercial fare with the recent acquisition of the sequel to “Borat,” and another Paramount acquisition in the Tom Clancy adaptation “Without Remorse” starring Michael B. Jordan. the studio also picked up Regina King’s One Night in Miami,” which is expected to be an Oscar contender.
In light of ongoing movie theater closures and countless blockbusters changing release dates, Paramount had been exploring numerous options in recent weeks for the tentative Christmas Day release of “Coming 2 America” — including selling the rights in-house at owner Viacom’s streamer CBS All Access, sources said. Other streaming services also looked that the film.
The project is one of several that Paramount has sold this year to streamers, including Aaron Sorkin’s “Trial of the Chicago 7” and the action comedy “Lovebirds,” both of which went to Netflix. The studio sold “Without Remorse” to Amazon.
The first “Coming to America” was directed by John Landis in 1988, and saw Murphy as the charming African prince Akeem, who traveled to New York City to escape an arranged marriage. Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Headley and John Amos co-starred. The film grossed nearly $300 million at the worldwide box office.
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. Murphy, Hall and Jones are reprising their roles. The film stars Jermaine Fowler and supporting cast includes Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Arsenio Hall and Wesley Snipes.
Good move by Paramount, bad move by Amazon. I suppose Amazon has so much money, like Netflix, they can afford to piss it away. Like everything in business/life, in time this will change.
Might seem like a lot of money but these streaming services are all jockeying for position right now. Amazon needs some of these major pickups to compete with Netflix so it's a worthwhile investment to get new subscribers onboard.
The main reason I think Amazon made a stupid move is price. I don't think many people who don't already have Amazon Prime, will be lured in to joining Amazon Prime at $125 a year to see a sequel to a 32 year old movie.
I have not been overly impressed with Netflix's original movies (with the exception of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), but compared to Amazon's original movies they seem like genius. I do watch Amazon much more than Netflix because of Amazon's selection of "older" movies. I think Amazon knows their original movie product has been lame, but their solution (for the most part) is to spend more money on the same kind of PC crap. Edit, I don't see Coming to America 2 as PC (necessarily), I'm referring to the stuff Amazon produced in-house. Also, Coming to America 2 was not originally going up against any comic book stuff. I really don't think it would have preformed Covid or not. When was the last time anyone paid to see Eddie Murphy when he wasn't playing a cartoon donkey? I thought Coming to America was amusing 32 years ago, but I haven't seen it since 1988 and it never comes up in conversation when discussing movies of the 80's.
Last edited by Johnmgm on Wed Oct 14, 2020 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I do think this movie would've probably done fairly well in theaters as an alternative to the comic book crap. The sale probably is "too much" though I don't know in this instance. Either way these acquisitions are amplified because the services are critically trying to carve out their base. The idea is to get some people who might just want to see the movie staying onboard to sample the rest of their programming or make a purchase. COMING 2 AMERICA was going to be Paramount's major Christmas release, and Amazon already bought the Tom Clancy film with Michael B. Jordan -- these were major theatrical movies, not just low-budget things they were trying to siphon off, so Amazon actually might get some people to sign up just to see them.
It's worth noting also COMING 2 AMERICA is probably the biggest "sale" so far of a theatrical movie I believe -- but these seem to only work with "mid tier" movies. They won't work with the comic book/franchise crap which are so expensive they're designed to make bigger dollars on the big screen. Selling them off to Amazon or Netflix isn't going to recoup their respective costs unless (like MULAN) there's a premium being charged on top of it. And even then I'm not sure MULAN is going to make money by itself...they needed some massive number of purchases to break even or turn a profit just on the basis of the streaming sales. I'm not sure they got there.
Maybe we'll see something major like WW1984 go to HBO Max but probably not -- WB was willing to dump THE WITCHES remake but these other films are going to be held because they will either lose money on selling them off to an online vendor OR leave too much money on the table to make it worth the effort.
Seriously I cannot believe how downright shoddy this was -- what a total waste, and I couldn't even finish it. All plot, no development, no location shooting outside of an obvious Atlanta-area building (doubling for New York!). Just amazing how "regressed" cinema has become in such a short amount of time. The original had a lot of heart, and an actual story -- this is just a group of fragmented scenes in which a plot finally forms, but where no real natural narrative line ever develops. Just random scenes and cameos, strung together, mostly shot in someone's home (apparently some rapper's mansion).
Paramount made out well selling it off to Amazon, no doubt about it -- I also cannot believe Murphy saying this was "better" than what Ryan Cogler and Michael B. Jordan wanted to do with the sequel concept they concocted that Eddie allegedly turned down.
