Coming 2 America Gets Official Rating

Coming 2 America has been given an official rating by the MPAA, and it is a PG-13 rating. Coming 2 America has been "Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language and drug content." In other words: it sounds about right for the Coming to America sequel. However, fans of the first film may be quick to point out that Coming to America was rated R, for language and sex. It would suggest that the sequel is going a tamer route, which isn't that surprising for anyone who's been following Eddie Murphy's career the last decade or so.

There's no doubt that in the 2000s, Eddie Murphy left the sharper edges of this stand-up comedy career and hit films from the '80s and '90s for more family-friendly fare. The Shrek franchise Meet Dave, and Daddy Day Care movies were all PG; even Murphy's adult comedies like The Nutty Professor films, Norbit, Bowfinger, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash were PG-13, and so was his Oscar-nominated role in Dreamgirls. Ironically, it's only really been Murphy's Oscar-bait film Dolemite Is My Name that has drawn-out the classic, foul-mouthed Eddie Murphy of old.

That's all to say: Murphy's strategy of movies seems a lot like Harrison Ford's philosophy: make films that can reach the widest audience possible. Coming 2 America will be released on streaming through Amazon Prime Video; a PG-13 rating on that big movie event offered to viewers at home, will exponentially widen the viewership. The public is hungry for big, new, movies, and it's looking like the return to theaters will still be a slow rollout by March, when Coming 2 America premieres.

Here are the official synopsis and cast list for Coming 2 America:

"Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi(Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began. Available March 5th on Prime Video.

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley, with Wesley Snipes and James Earl Jones. Also starring John Amos, Teyana Taylor, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Paul Bates, Nomzamo Mbatha, Bella Murphy Screenplay by: Kenya Barris and Barry W. Blaustein & David Sheffield Story by: Barry W. Blaustein & David Sheffield and Justin Kanew Directed by: Craig Brewer Based on characters created by: Eddie Murphy Produced by: Kevin Misher and Eddie Murphy Costumes by: Ruth E. Carter."

Coming 2 America hits Amazon Prime Video on March 5th, 2021.