Several contemporary sources, including the 10 Feb 1988 Var, referred to the film by its working title Quest, while a 3 Jul 1988 Long Beach Press-Telegram article cited Zamunda Project as an earlier working title.
       Based on the success of Eddie Murphy’s starring vehicle, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987, see entry), a 26 Aug 1987 DV article announced Paramount Pictures had completely revised its contract with Murphy for the second time since Oct 1984, granting the actor an “open-ended, exclusive five-picture deal extending into the 1990s,” in which he would be paid a salary of nearly $16 million on each film.
       An 18 Sep 1987 LAHExam news item announced that John Landis was in negotiations to direct; according to an 18 Jul 1988 People item, Landis was handpicked by Murphy. The pair had previously worked together on Trading Places (1983, see entry), which was inspired by 1930s social comedies. Similarly, Landis modeled Coming to America after 1930s romantic comedies, as stated in a 25 Feb 1988 DV news item and production notes in AMPAS library files. Reprising their roles from Trading Places, Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy played fallen millionaire brothers, “Mortimer Duke” and “Randolph Duke,” respectively, in a scene that showed them panhandling on a New York City street, as noted in a 21 Jan 1988 HR news brief.
       Pre-production began in fall 1987, with a principal photography start date of 4 Jan 1988 in New York City, where production was plagued by “intermittent blizzards” during five weeks of filming. New York locations included an apartment exterior in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Madison Square Garden, the Van Wyck Expressway, a car wash in Queens, Brooklyn Bridge, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and a Wendy’s fast food restaurant on Queens Boulevard that doubled as “McDowell’s Restaurant.” According to the Aug 1988 issue of AmCin, the brown-tinted windows that wrapped around three sides of the Wendy’s restaurant were replaced with neutral density plastic for filming. The subway scene between Murphy’s “Prince Akeem” and Shari Headley’s “Lisa McDowell” took place on a rented “four-car train on the IND line,” which operated on unused tracks at Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Shermerhorn station, as stated in production notes.
       The 5 Feb 1988 Back Stage noted that filming in New York City would be completed that week, at which time production moved to Los Angeles, CA. There, shooting took place on Stage 18 at Paramount Pictures studios, as noted in the 25 Feb 1988 DV, where Prince Akeem’s palace, bedroom, bath and dressing rooms were built. According to DV, the production was on schedule and budget, with production costing roughly $30 million.
       Murphy and his co-star Arsenio Hall played multiple cameo roles, undergoing “three to four-hour make-up sessions” for their various cameo characters. During pre-production, make-up artist Rick Baker made “life casts” of the actors’ faces, then constructed clay facial sculptures onto which he molded foam rubber appliances that the actors wore, in addition to hand-woven hair, eyebrow, and mustache pieces. Over 500 costumes were designed by Deborah Nadoolman, who was inspired by the early 1950s “new look” of fashion designer Christian Dior, as well as everyday styles from Ivory Coast, Gambia, and Senegal. Jewelry was created by Katherine Post, a costume jeweler, in Thailand. For the design of Zamunda’s royal palace, Landis took inspiration from England’s Brighton Pavilion and Henri Rousseau’s 19th century jungle paintings.
       Principal photography lasted eighty-three days. Editing began while filming was underway, and six weeks of post-production were scheduled.
       According to news items in the 7 Jun 1988 LAHExam and 18 Jul 1988 People, Murphy’s relationship with Landis soured on set, and the actor publicly stated he would not work with Landis again. However, the actor and director later reteamed on 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III (see entry).
       The film opened to largely negative reviews, with many critics complaining that Murphy’s talents had been wasted on bland material. Regardless, the film took in $31 million in opening week box-office receipts, setting a record as the highest-grossing non-sequel to that time, according to a 7 Jul 1988 WSJ article.
       Actress Shari Headley was chosen from over 1,000 candidates to make her feature film acting debut as Lisa McDowell.
       Several lawsuits arose after the film’s release, as noted in a 19 Dec 1989 HR article. Citing “breach of contract,” humorist and Washington Post columnist Art Buchwald and his producing partner, Alain Bernheim, sued Paramount Pictures for $5 million, claiming the studio optioned Buchwald’s story, King for a Day, in 1983 and later used it as the basis for Coming to America, despite dropping Buchwald’s project. Although Warner Bros. subsequently optioned King for a Day, the studio also dropped the project when Paramount announced plans for Coming to America, which was strikingly similar to Buchwald’s story. King for a Day was described by HR as follows: “A pampered African king comes to America to trade oil rights for arms, is desposed in his absence and forced to take a job with a caterer. He falls in love and eventually returns to Africa and regains his throne.” A memo written by Paramount executive David Kirkpatrick referred to King for a Day as one of two potential projects for Murphy’s follow-up to Beverly Hills Cop (1984, see entry). The legal battle lasted seven years. According to a 13 Sep 1995 LAT article, Buchwald and Bernheim were eventually rewarded $825,000, after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Harvey A. Schneider found that Coming to America was inspired by King for a Day. Schneider also stated that Paramount had denied Buchwald and Bernheim net profits and royalties based on “an ‘unconscionable’ formula” that reflected a net loss on the film despite worldwide box-office receipts reaching approximately $350 million, as stated in a 10 Jan 1990 LAT item. The protracted lawsuit cost both sides an estimated $12 million.
       In addition to Buchwald, Lassine Ousseni, a self-proclaimed African prince, filed a complaint against Murphy and Paramount Pictures, as reported in 9 Aug 1989 DV and 11 Aug 1989 HR news items. The complaint stated Ousseni presented a story idea to Murphy about an African prince coming to America in search of love, with the agreement that the actor would not use his idea without consent or “reasonable payments.” A 25 Nov 1988 LAHExam news item had previously reported that Shelby M. Gregory, who claimed Ousseni hired him to write the treatment “Toto, the African Prince” that Ousseni submitted to Murphy, was suing Paramount for $10 million. A 6 Jan 1989 HR article also reported a $40 million lawsuit filed by Laurence Armour, a Memphis, TN-based writer who claimed Murphy stole the idea for Coming to America from his screenplay, The Cannibal, in which an African prince comes to America and discovers his taste for human flesh. While the outcome of Ousseni’s complaint could not be determined, the courts ruled in favor of Paramount and Murphy on the lawsuits filed by both Gregory and Armour.
       A 27 Nov 1988 LAT news item stated that a television series based on Coming to America was expected to air on CBS in spring 1989. However, according to a 3 Jul 1989 USA Today item, only the pilot episode aired on 4 Jul 1989, as part of CBS Summer Playhouse, an anthology series featuring failed pilots.
      End credits include “Thanks” to the following organizations and individuals: McDonald’s Corporation; The Waldorf Astoria Hotel; Kathryn Post Jewelry; WENCO; R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting; New York City Police Department, Motion Picture and Television Unit; The Zamundan Film Commission; Sharon Dolin; Steve Bedell; Baba Olatunji; Richard Hilton; Budd Tunick; Nestor Abascal; Rachel Landis; and Max Landis.