‘Coming 2 America’ Confirmed To Be Rated PG-13, Unlike Eddie Murphy’s Original Comedy
The originalComing to Americawas a huge comedy hit back in 1988. It scored over $128 million at the domestic box office, and it raked in another $160.6 million in international territories. That’s huge business for an R-rated comedy released in the late 1980s, but that was the drawing power ofEddie Murphyat the time. However, whenComing 2 Americawent into production at Paramount Pictures, before the studio sold distribution rights to Amazon Studios, and it seems like they thought making the sequel R-rated would hurt their box office chances. The movie has officially been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America.
ComicBook.comhas the news on the MPAA’s official rating ofComing 2 America. The film has been rated PG-13 for “crude and sexual content, language and drug content.”
That could have easily been the same reason for giving the original movie an R-rating back in 1988. First of all, the original film opens with a bit of nudity. When Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) is awoken in the morning, he’s bathed by a couple women who appear topless. That kind of nudity pretty much guarantees an R-rating, even back in 1988. On top of that, there are more than a few f-bombs dropped throughout the film, including a handful by Samuel L. Jacksonin a bit appearanceas a character who tries to rob the McDowell’s restaurant. But the most f-bombs probably come in the barbershop scenes:
More than likely,Coming 2 Americawill utilize one good use of the word “f***,” but has probably gotten rid of any nudity. Even before this official MPAA rating came along, we could have predicted this based on what directorCraig Brewersaid when thefirst photos from the movie were revealed. The director said:
“Know we designed this movie to push some buttons, but we also designed it to be a family viewing thing. My 12-year-old watched it the other day and loved it. It’s for the whole family. The thing aboutComing to America is it’sbeen on TV so much that a lot of kids have seen it even though the movie was rated-R. The night before, do Coming to America if you haven’t seen it already, but you don’t need to.”
Hopefully, that doesn’t neuterComing 2 Americaand keep it from being funny. My biggest concern is that most of Eddie Murphy’s family comedies with PG-13 ratings aren’t very funny, but his R-rated comedies are among his best. There’s a chance thatComing 2 Americawon’t be sullied too much by this decision, since the original wasn’t nearly as raunchy as many other R-rated comedies today, but count me a little worried about how this will turn out.
