After reigning as one of the biggest stars in the business throughout the 1980s and 90s, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that Eddie Murphy hasn’t managed to recapture those heights during the 21st Century. In fact, if you discount the consistent success of the Shrek franchise, then the misses severely outnumber the hits.
The 59 year-old has drastically slowed down his output over the last decade or so, having only appeared in four movies since 2011’s lightweight comedy Tower Heist, but it looked as though a potential reinvention could be on the cards when he lit up Netflix’s stylish biopic Dolemite Is My Name, winning rave reviews for his performance and earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the process.
Murphy turns 60 this year, and faces a crossroads in the latter stages of his career as to whether he wants to segue into becoming an acclaimed character actor or continue to hope his established shtick can still resonate four decades after it first brought him to prominence. His most recent effort, Coming 2 America, just landed on Prime Video, and while his fans have certainly gotten a kick out of it, the critical consensus has been much more tepid.
The sequel currently holds a bang average Rotten Tomatoes score of 52%, but in a new interview, the leading man admitted that he’s already got an idea for a potential third outing as Prince Akeem, although it won’t be happening for a while yet.
“There’s an idea for a Coming to America 3 that I have, but it doesn’t happen for 16 years. I have to be 75 to do it, and not make me up like 75, but really be 75.”
Sequels are all well and good, but Dolemite hinted at the sort of bravura turns that Murphy is still capable of delivering, and it would be a waste of his undoubted talents if he kept returning to the well over and over again, even if Coming 2 America is proving to be a hit on streaming.