Caffeinated Clint
Not surprisingly, considering theaters are still in a state of f*cks, er, flux, Paramount has opted to offload it’s upcoming “Coming to America” sequel to a streamer.
The Eddie Murphy sequel – the one we’ve been waiting 30 damn years for! – was set to open at Christmas. Obviously, nobody likes a side serve of shite lungs and death hair with their large popcorn so the studio has handballed the film over to Amazon.
Like the upcoming adaptation of Tom Clancy’s “Without Remorse” – another film I was looking forward to seeing in a packed theater, with a white-hot sound system and mega cream screen before Venom became less a movie and more a pandemic – Amazon will run the tentpole on their small-screen platform first. In this case, the flick will premiere at the same time it was due to open in theaters – December 18.
The flick, originally on the sked for a theater release in August, set Amazon back a sumly $125 million.
Directed by Craig Brewer, the “Coming” follow-up sees Eddie Murphy’s Akeem preparing to become king of the fictional country of Zamunda when he discovers he has a secret son in America — a street-smart New Yorker named Lavelle. The supporting cast of the 1988 original, including Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones, are back along with Wesley Snipes who plays the rogue.
Murphy’s going to become quite a fixture on the streaming nets. Not only did the thesp headline “Dollarmite is My Name” for Netflix but the same shingle is producing a fourth “Beverly Hills Cop”, which will also bypass theaters apparently (yep, WTF!?), with the Oscar nominee set to reprise his role as Axel Foley.
