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Eddie Murphy is back in ‘Coming 2 America’, riding a wave of nostalgia

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“Coming 2 America” was obviously designed to be crowd-pleasing back when groups were conceivable, and as such it’s among the few movies redirected from theaters to streaming that have really lost something as a result of it. All things considered, it’s still a decent deal of fun, reassembling old appearances from the 1988 unique while adding a lot of new ones.

The first movie came at the stature of Eddie Murphy’s ascent to film industry fame, after a series of hits during the 1980s. The new film follows an awakening rebound with “Dolemite is My Name” and his triumphant Emmy-winning return to “Saturday Night Live,” with more nostalgia – including plans for another “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel – on the way.

At its core, “Coming to America” introduced a simple and sweet fairy tale, about a spoiled sovereign making a trip to Queens looking for genuine romance. However the film invested quite a bit of its energy basically filling in as a goofy exhibit for Murphy and Arsenio Hall, investing plentiful time in the cosmetics seat for their hair salon characters and that’s just the beginning.

Directed by “Dolemite’s” Craig Brewer, “Coming 2” repeats the entirety of that, with a pleasantly cast next-generation element that basically replays the plot from an alternate point. As a little something extra, the story (credited to a threesome of essayists) accompanies a women’s activist snare, and an exercise, similar to the first film, about putting aside outdated traditions.

Thirty-ish years after the fact, Murphy’s Prince Akeem is still cheerfully wedded to Lisa (Shari Headley) with three talented daughters, the oldest of whom (“If Beale Street Could Talk’s” KiKi Layne) would apparently make an ideal queen.

However the law requests a male heir, and confronted with a threat from the leader of a neighboring land, General Izzi (Wesley Snipes, rejoining after “Dolemite” and making advantage of his comedic turn), Akeem is enchanted to find he startlingly has one, who he to some degree unrealistically fathered during his time in New York.

Lavelle (comic Jermaine Fowler) and his mother (Leslie Jones) are astonished to find those birthplaces, yet alongside his uncle (Tracy Morgan, adding to what’s as of now a lovely profound “SNL” connection) they fly off to the anecdotal African realm of Zamunda, where Lavelle should wed Izzi’s little girl and secure the harmony. However he runs into his own entanglements in regards to masterminded relationships, which isn’t helped by the appearing foul play of bypassing Akeem’s different kids.

In the event that that sounds somewhat occupied, a lot of it is truly a pardon to turn Murphy and Hall free again on their old shtick, expanded by an excessive number of appearances to specify, up to and including the end credits. Luckily, the film is sprinkled for certain exceptionally entertaining lines, as Lavelle disclosing to Hall’s Semmi that he dresses “like a slave from the future,” and in very meta style knocking American motion pictures for depending on continuations that no one requested to see.

It’s frankly hard to tell how well the film would have fared in the cinema world, however it makes one miss the dramatic experience, if possibly to partake in the response when somebody like James Earl Jones shows up on screen.

In that regard, this nostalgic, somewhat engaging film has a fairly opportune inclination, regardless of whether its conveyance through Amazon – like most issues confronting Zamunda’s illustrious family – sums to a high-class problem.

“Coming 2 America” premieres March 5 on Amazon. It’s rated PG-13.

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Wicked Box Office Hits Global Milestone, Poised to Surpass Kung Fu Panda 4 and Godzilla x Kong

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The box office for Wicked hits a significant milestone worldwide as it gets ready to surpass Godzilla x Kong and Kung Fu Panda 4.

Wicked is still doing well despite recent box office releases that have caused significant disappointment. The most recent Wizard of Oz musical was too good for the Spider-Man villain and the Tolkien adaption to compete with Kraven the Hunter and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the same week. Wicked has already exceeded its $145 million budget following a record-breaking first weekend that raked in over $160 million globally.

It has achieved even more success this past weekend. Variety said that after making $359 million domestically, the musical adaption made over $524 million internationally. It is currently on track to surpass Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Kung Fu Panda 4, which brought in $547.6 million and $571.1 million, respectively. Having significantly outperformed Grease’s $188.62 million total, it is also officially the highest-grossing Broadway adaption in domestic box office history.

What the Box Office Success of Wicked Means

Musicals and animated blockbusters are regaining their position at the box office after ten years of action film supremacy. Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 have taken first and third place for the entire year, while Moana 2 and Wicked are the top films this weekend. With a $1.3 billion box office total, Deadpool & Wolverine is still in second place, but it’s probably the only action film to stay in the top five globally. Dune: Part Two may lose its position when Mufasa: The Lion King is released the following week:

TitleDomesticWorldwide
Inside Out 2
$653 million$1.7 billion
Deadpool & Wolverine
$637 million$1.3 billion
Despicable Me 4
$360 million
$970 million
Moana 2
$338 million$717 million
Dune: Part Two
$282 million
$714 million

This pattern is probably due to the fact that, other from Deadpool & Wolverine, neither DC nor Marvel have released any successful films this year. With Joker: Folie à Deux, DC tried to duplicate its $1 billion triumph, but it only made $200 million globally. With the exception of Wicked, every film in the top 10 global releases for 2024 has been a sequel, creating a distinct market. Based on a Broadway musical and The Wizard of Oz, Wicked is not a completely original film, but its box office performance does demonstrate that non-sequels may be successful in theaters in today IP-driven landscape.

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Danny Ramirez on Joaquin Phoenix Leaving the Gay Romance Film Directed by Todd Haynes

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Todd Haynes was planning to cast Danny Ramirez and Joaquin Phoenix in a gay romance movie. However, Phoenix left the untitled production five days before Guadalajara, Mexico, filming got underway.

At the Academy Museum Gala on Saturday night in Los Angeles, Ramirez told Variety’s Marc Malkin, “It’s definitely disappointing.” “If anything,” he continued, “If anything, it just gave me more inspiration to keep driving, keep pushing, and knowing that I’m on the right path and approaching the work the right way. So that’s what I’m excited about.”

The movie, which depended on Phoenix’s casting, was in danger after it was revealed in August that he had quit the production, according to sources. Two guys in love in the 1930s who escape Los Angeles and travel to Mexico were the main subject of the NC-17-rated movie.

“It’s definitely a very complicated situation,” Ramirez stated. “The audition process was extensive, and so what I walked away with that was just the artistic validation of throwing down opposite of [Phoenix] in this chemistry read… There was a moment that I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve arrived as a performer.’”

“The most recent update is ‘hopefully.’” Ramirez said in response to a question about whether the movie is still in development with filmmaker Haynes.

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David Schwimmer Remembers Rejecting “Men in Black”: ‘That Would Have Made Me a Hollywood Star’

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Although David Schwimmer admits his “career would have taken a very different trajectory” if he had been the lead in the 1997 movie, he doesn’t regret declining Men in Black.

The actor said, “That’s not why I turned it down,” in response to a question on a recent episode of the podcast Origins With Cush Jumbo regarding whether he rejected down the successful franchise because it conflicted with his Friends filming schedule. Rather, he decided to become a feature film director.

Schwimmer said, “[It] was a brutal decision.” the actor chuckles. “I had just finished filming The Pallbearer, my first film with Gwyneth Paltrow, and there were high expectations of that, which didn’t come true (Laughs). It was kind of a bomb, but there were high expectations, and the studio, which was Miramax, wanted to lock me into a three-picture deal at a fixed price, and I said I would do that if I got to direct my first movie.”

After months of talks, the intelligence actor said that they had come to an agreement whereby he “would act in three more movies for them” in exchange for allowing him to “direct my entire theater company in the first film,” Since You’ve Been Gone from 1998. The film was told through the perspective of a doctor who was severely beaten up by a fellow graduate on graduation day, humiliating him and setting the stage for a ten-year class reunion.

“All these unknown actors but I was going to put them on the map, basically. I was going to let everyone discover the talent of this amazing company,” Schwimmer said, “We found this amazing script, and we were developing it. We started pre-production. All my best friends in the world in my theater company quit their jobs so they could be in this film over the summer, which was going to be a six-week shoot in Chicago.”

However, Schwimmer had to make a tough decision about his career because the production for his directing debut happened to coincide with the filming of Men in Black.

The Six Days Seven Nights actor recalls, “We’re in pre-production, hired the whole crew, everything’s going and that’s when I was offered Men in Black.” “It was a direct conflict with this. My summer window from Friends was four months. I had a four-month hiatus and Men in Black was going to shoot exactly when I was going to direct this film with my company. And of course, it was an amazing opportunity. However, my theater company and that relationship with all those people would probably have ended. I don’t think it would have recovered.”

Schwimmer stated that he is unsure if “he made the right choice,” but he firmly feels that in these kinds of circumstances “you have to follow your gut, you have to follow your heart.”

“Look, I’m really aware, whatever 20 years later maybe more, [Men in Black] would have made me a movie star,” he continued. “If you look at the success of that film and that franchise, my career would have taken a very different trajectory.”

In the end, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith played the key parts in the Men in Black franchise.

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