James R | On 09, Mar 2021

Coming 2 America’s opening weekend has “far exceeded” Amazon’s expectations, the online giant has announced.

Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, the long-awaited sequel sees the newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began. Originally set for a cinema release, this was acquired exclusively by Amazon Studios last year and debuted on Friday 5th March.

According to Screen Engine/ASI’s weekly PostVOD ranking, the film was the most-streamed movie of the weekend, marking the number one opening weekend of any streaming movie in 2021 to date and of any streaming movie in the past 12 months. How reliable these figures are is anybody’s guess, as Amazon – unlike Netflix – does not release any viewing data. With the Screen Engine/ASI figures not including Raya and the Last Dragon, which premiered on Disney+ (with a Premier Access fee of £19.99) on the same day, the statistics are questionable in their accuracy and range.

The list is based on the incidence of respondents from a syndicated weekly online survey saying they viewed a list of recently released VOD movies, including PVOD (Premium Video-On-Demand), EEST (Early Electronic Sell Thru), or SVOD (Subscription Video-On-Demand). The figures are undoubtedly based on viewers in America: according to the rankings, the second most-watched movie of the weekend was The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, which debuted on Paramount+ in the USA, followed by Netflix’s To All the Boys: Always and Forever in third place, while Netflix’s Moxie, which debuted on 3rd March, was ranked 15th.

Nonetheless, Amazon has jumped on the data to emphasise the success of the film, which suggests that the film did perform well.

Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, said: “The Zamunda Royal family has arrived and audiences around the globe welcomed them enthusiastically! The premiere of Coming 2 America has far exceeded any of our wildest expectations. It’s clear an entire new generation of fans have joined the enormous loyal fanbase who already adored the magical world created by global phenom Eddie Murphy, the incredibly talented filmmaking team and the hilarious, all-star cast of existing and newly-cemented legends. Coming 2 America is the perfectly fun, celebratory, escapist, feel-good comedy movie that worldwide audiences needed.”

“Coming 2 America is a quintessential film in pop culture, as such, we needed a campaign at the intersection of marketing and culture,” commented Ukonwa Ojo, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Prime Video and Amazon Studios. “For the past 33 years, the original 1988 film has been regarded as one of the most iconic films in the Black community. We wanted fans of Eddie Murphy and the original blockbuster to be surprised and delighted with every experience because we were passionate fans too.”

“It mostly transports the essential good nature and sincerity of the original over wholesale,” we wrote in our review of the sequel. “And while it won’t be as long-lived or rewatchable as the film that inspired it, Coming 2 America is a welcome catch-up for fans.”

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