‘Coming 2 America’ Premiere Supported Black-Owned Businesses Chris Gardner
Amazon Studios delivered the world premiere of
Coming 2 America on Wednesday night for cast, press and VIPs by supporting black-owned businesses in the process.
Ahead of the virtual unveiling, attendees received a pair of boxes containing gifts for a viewing party that included dark chocolate salted caramel pretzel bark by Zac’s Sweet Shop, artisanal popcorn by Pop’s Kernel and chocolate bars by Harlem Chocolate Factory. A second box revealed a gold crown atop a velvet pillow with a bed of roses underneath, a decadent surprise in line with the film’s royal plot.
This article originally appeared in the March/April issue of ESSENCE magazine, available on newsstands now.
During the summer of 1988, in the seemed-like-it-could-have-been-real fictional land of Zamunda, Africa, a charming prince named Akeem Joffer took his 21st spin around the sun and began to ponder the world outside of his royal confines. Those feelings intensified when he met his queen-to-be, who just wasn’t the right fit. Unlike his parents, he wasn’t down for an arranged marriage, no matter how beautiful the bride or lavish the ceremony. (Trust, that wedding would have been everything, but fate had other plans.)
In "Coming to America 2," the apologetic streak is pronounced: "I’m so sorry you can no longer indiscriminately touch a woman’s body at your every whim,” Eddie Murphy says to Eddie Murphy at one point in a barbershop sequence.
The 33-years-later sequel “Coming 2 America” starts poorly but gets funnier and more likable as it goes, and it’s stolen by a newcomer to this particular nostalgia tour: Wesley Snipes,