After 33 years, Coming 2 America gets Nigerians nostalgic

The production of the second installment was announced in 2017.

The second sequel of the 1980s hit comedy film, Coming to America might not resonate with younger generations but some adults would surely have stories to tell on how and when they watched it.

The story of Prince Akeem played by Eddie Murphy started in 1988. The young prince left Zamunda for the United States to find a queen that ‘will arouse my intellect and as well as my lions.’ His quest made him disguise as he took up a cleaning job at a restaurant where he also found love. Ironically his love was threatened on the discovering that he was a royal prince.

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The production of the second installment was announced in 2017.

The star-studded film, directed by Craig Brewer was released by Amazon through Prime Video on Thursday in other countries but was not showed in Nigeria until Friday.

Several people kept late night to watch the movie on Prime Video early Friday morning and most of the people that shared their comments on social media did not regret their decisions.

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall (who played Semmi), playing four roles in the new installment, were among stars that were retained from the 1988 production. Veteran Hollywood actor, Wesley Snipes is among the latest addition to the comedy film.

Nigeria’s award-winning singer and song producer, Davido, and Grammy-nominated singer and rapper, Burna Boy are among Nigerians that participated in the project. Davido performed his hit song, ‘Assurance’ in the film while Burna Boy revealed on social media that he worked with John Legend and Nile Rodgers on a soundtrack for the film.

This serves as extra motivation for Nigerians to appreciate the film and some could not hide their joy at the involvement of Nigerian superstars.

A Twitter user, Dr Adeola (Addy) Olubamiji said she dressed up to watch the film in her room.  She was among some Nigerians that watched the first installment of the film with some bit of drama.

“I watched #ComingToAmerica in the 90s. Ha! Uncle Joe, we made it to America!!! Dreams do come true!! I remember watching #ComingToAmerica by peeping through the living room curtains of our neighbours. We didn’t have a video player (VHS),” she tweeted.

Another Twitter user said “Seeing Davido was a lovely surprise,” “So proud of Davido, Afrobeat to the world,” another Nigeria twitted.

“Davido did his thing,” Petty B tweeted. Radiant Child, another Twitter user was thrilled by the performances of the stars.

“Bruh #ComingToAmerica2 was hilarious I’m so glad they had the old characters but all the guest appearances was epic!! @wesleysnipes had me dying laughing bruh this is a must see!!!” Radiant child twitted.

Toke via her Twitter handle @AdetokeW said she thoroughly enjoyed the film mentioning the live performances of Davido and John Legend as her favourite part of the film. Another fan of Davido, Obo JNR @lordswill tweeted, “I am proud to be a Davido fan.”

Bonita Darcel Grier via @DaGoddess100 was thrilled by the costumes and scenery.