Paramount Hires Original COMING TO AMERICA Writers For Sequel

Paramount has hired screenwriters Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield to script a sequel to their 1988 comedy Coming To America.

The original film starred Eddie Murphy as a young African prince who flees an arranged marriage to live incognito in Queens, New York with the hopes of finding a woman who would love him for himself. Directed by John Landis, The film also starred Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Headley and John Amos.

There is no word yet as to whether Murphy would be returning to his role as Prince Akeem or if it would be recast. But if Murphy were interested in boosting his career, this could be a good way to do it. The comic actor has been largely absent from the big screen in recent years and with the exception of last year’s little seen Mr. Church, hasn’t been in anything even worth seeing since his Oscar-nominated turn in 2006’s Dreamgirls.

Coming To America was the subject of a breach of contract lawsuit brought by writer Art Buchwald, who alleged that the film’s basic plot was stolen from a script treatment he and his producing partner Alain Bernheim had presented to the studio. Buchwald won the suit and a reported $900,000 in damages. The suit was the focus of the book Fatal Subtraction, which examined the often times deceptive practices of Hollywood studio accounting practices.

Via Hollywood Reporter.