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In the 1988 comedy Coming To America, Prince Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy) and his best friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall) flip a coin to decide where in America they want to go. They agree that there are only two options: Los Angeles, or New York. The coin lands on heads, and so it is decided: They will go to New York.
The two young men hail from the fictional African nation of Zamunda. Akeem is hoping to find a bride in America that loves him for who he truly is, rather than for his royal title. When he and Semmi consult the map to find where a suitable woman for a king might live in New York City, the borough of Queens seems like an obvious choice.
And that’s how Coming to America became one of the great New York movies of the ’80s, capturing a side of the city not often featured in Nora Ephron’s romantic comedies. In addition to the rough-and-real neighborhoods of Queens, the film also captured the feel of mom-and-pop barbershops and an extended scene on the New York City subway. Now, over thirty years later, the sequel, Coming 2 America, is coming 2 Amazon Prime Video. It will once again find the prince and Semmi in Queens, this time in search of Akeem’s long-lost son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler). But will Coming 2 America capture New York City the same way the first film did?
Where was Coming To America 2 filmed?
Unfortunately for those hoping to see the real Queens of the 21st century up on the screen, I have bad news: Coming 2 America was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, on the Tyler Perry Studio sound stages beginning in August 2019.
It is not uncommon for movies that take place in New York City to film in another city that is both cheaper and more accessible for production. It seems that’s the route director Craig Brewer opted to take with Coming 2 America. But never fear, because a little Hollywood magic can go a long way.
In an interview for the film’s press notes, the production designer Jefferson Sage said, “There’s enough of a complex of streets and buildings in Atlanta that gave us the core of what New York would be. Because we don’t spend a great deal of time in Queens in this movie, we had enough infrastructure to do some street setups. And when we created interiors on stage, we were careful about finding views out of the windows that were New York-oriented.”
And viewers can look forward to a new and improved royal palace in Zamunda, too. “We didn’t set out to recreate the first palace, so much as reinvent it,” Sage said in that same interview. “We referenced it in certain exterior scenes and used digital effects to create specific looks that might be familiar to fans. And inside, we created the statue of the King and each of the paintings on the walls that represent past leaders. Producer Kevin Misher had a great idea to make some of the paintings look like Eddie, as Akeem, too, so the lineage is clear.”
Hey, as long as the jokes are good, Coming 2 America is bound to be a good time, no matter where it was filmed.
