I still laugh out loud when I see this movie on cable. I know it made a lot of money for 1988, but it seems like this would have made more than Beverly Hills Cop. Is it a demographic thing?
Anything can be a game as long as there's a loser.
who knows!
you know how to deal with drama? it's yoga bitch!
It's sort of underrated to me.
IMDB...not a Fanboard
www.myspace.com/olawlz
Because the cast was Black. Almost all of the movie bucks come from the white audience. Most white people (if not all) don't patronize Black movies because of racism.
shareYou know tallpall, I agree with part of what you're saying.
I don't think it's fully racism, i think that Nutty Professor was an all Black cast as well...or mostly.... and it made a bigger splash and probably more money than Coming to America.
I think mainstream(white) America liked to see Eddie in certain kinds of roles ( wise cracking outsider who shows up to make people laugh). In the films he did with all Black casts that didn't have as much of a splash, he wasn't playing any thing close to that. In fact , C to A, Boomerang and Harlem Nights he was the straight man and everybody else got the big laughs.
It's like for mainstream tastes.....you've got to give them what they want..how they want it or they won't support it.
Quiet as kept, Coming To America is Eddie's funniest work. I enjoyed it and most of his fans did, who cares if mainstream aemrica couldn't appreciate it. F them
It's racism plain and simple. Probably only 2 white people in America paid to see Boomerang
shareNah, how is it racist for people to spend money on what they want to see and not spend it on what they don't want to see?
And why was Nutty Professor....no white significant characters, such a hit.
You replied without responding to any of the points I made.
==========================
You know how many serious Black filmmakers who are out there who can't get funding for serious/dramatic films because audiences(Black and White) just aren't gonna support them?
come on, man let's keep it 100.
To sleep with anger.....rosewood, five heartbeats,etc,etc....serious films......all black casts....targeted to black audiences.....box office flops...and there's a lot more.
I don't remember Boomerang. I didn't see Nutty Professor because like many modern remakes of classics they strayed too far. It didn't look funny to me (of course, I was also never a Jerry Lewis fan). I saw Haunted Mansion, but was disappointed because instead of having a good story around the Disney ride, it showcased EM - and I was a big fan of his BHC movies, Trading Places, etc; PoTC, on the other hand (at least the first one) incorporated much more of the ride and drew Johnny Depp into that.
I also just recently saw Murphy's Doctor Doolittle and was SO disappointed because as a child I LOVED the original and this really had nothing to do with it.
Yeah, but Boomerang was a $hit movie, so that's understandable.
There may be an element of racism, but it's not the main reason.... It's being able to relate to characters and the movie, and it doesn't get much more unrelatable for white people than an African Prince.
Also, Eddie's comedy changed over the years, probably as his ego inflated. Most people think it went downhill, and he eventually went family friendly (probably so that he could show his kids what he does for a living).
I've always said that Coming To America was the last good Eddie Murphy movie.
Is it racist that white people likely don't go to Tyler Perry movies, or Soul Plane or Lottery Ticket? No, there's just nothing there for them... Not to mention the fact that the last two movies are undeniably $hit, and Tyler Perry movies are questionable to say the least.
"You're going to need a bigger boat." - Chief Brody
$288 million isn't a lot of money? Thats a good box office in 2013, let alone 1988. just sayin
Do you look at a menu and say OK?
When Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall were doing press for Coming 2 America, I was confused when they said that the original developed a cult following unlike any of the other movies that Eddie Murphy did. They never intended on making a sequel (hence why it took nearly 35 years for one to come out) because they figured the story was pretty open and shut.
I don't understand how Coming to a America fits the description of being a "cult movie" because it was already a huge success upon release. It was the third highest grossing movie worldwide of 1988. Only Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Rain Man made more money.
To me, a cult movie is something may have been overlooked or wasn't that big a deal when it first came out, but gradually picked up momentum in the years that followed. In other words, they aren't immediate blockbusters like Coming to America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_film
Is it racist that white people likely don't go to Tyler Perry movies
When theres no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.share
I saw this movie in Dallas when it came out and 99% of the audience was white. Everyone laughed their @$$es off. It was the third highest grossing film of 1988 so obviously many whites paid to see it.
shareI lived in the south when this movie was released. I went to see it twice & WFRR once. The theater was packed for all 3 instances. And yes, there were plenty of White people in the audiences.
The funny thing is, when Ralph Bellamy first showed his face, I heard many people saying, "Ohhh!" But I didn't recognize him. However, there were so many people in proximity to me that I distinctly heard someone say, "Trading Places", and then I got the joke.
SINS NOIR
(Black movie sins):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfoxduzSJwi0yun_U4kt1RQ
What a stupid thing to say.
It took 289 millions worldwide (128 M domestic), which would be 571 millions today. It was a BIG hit! The real wonder is why sequels weren't made. Not that it would need a sequel.
racism- please.
I paid to see this movie. A damn good buy it was. I laughed my ass off.
As for Boomerang- it sucks. That could be why no one paid to see it.
COMING TO AMERICA was the third highest grossing film of it's release year (1988) behind WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT which opened the week before CTA was released and RAIN MAN that year's no 1 picture (largely thanks to the power of Tom Cruise). As John Landis points out on the special edition DVD here was a contemporary 'black' film that proved that a non-issue movie with an ethnic cast could do terrifically well at the box office.
Take that into account and give it (and those white audiences) credit for the success it still enjoys to this day.
haha, way to come through with some facts. when i first read this post, i thought to myself "this idiot who started this didn't account for inflation"
that being said i think that its good that this movie DID make a lot of money, considering it offered characters that people normally don't see in mainstream movies. i could probably count on one hand the number of movies where the majority of the characters were african americans of at least middle class, and didn't gain their wealth by some illegal way. its definitely unfortunate, but at least there are movies like this
@ Diss: we're talking about 1988, an era where white people were still sceptic about the black community. not 2008, 09 and 10, where white people practically pretend there was never any racism to begin with.
Monkey B is not a person...Monkey is a soul, that LIVES, in many bodies.
well I was alive in 1988, and I did pay to see this movie as I said. 1988 wasn't that different than today. But I live in a more progressive city. Perhaps in the south it was different. The movie was funny enough to appeal to all audiences. Even though I never use the stuff they use in their hair, the jokes were funny to me nonetheless.
funny if funny, no matter what the color.
Had nothing to do with the south, racism wasn't (and isn't) exclusive to the south, look at The Central Park Five...or should I say the Central Park Jogger case which happened around the time this movie came out.
On topic, as someone said this movie did make a great deal of money. Funny how underrated it is considering it was one of the highest grossing movies of that year.
I seem to remember it's review was pretty bad. I still went to the cinema for it back then, was a huge Murphy fan at the time.
shareBlack Folks!!! Enough with the ?Victim? $hit.
shareDude, if you're not a racist, you do a damn good impression of one.
And I'm not black. So you're going to have to come up with some other fictionally dysfunctional reason for why I'm calling you out on your racism if you want to absolve yourself/your comment as racist.
In reply to:
"Black Folks!!! Enough with the ?Victim? $hit."
The above reply adds nothing to this interesting and relevant discussion.
As for the intended subject/ostensible recipient of your above post, Mandingo609, I'm assuming you refer to tallpall's comment/post. First of all, it's racist of you to just assume tallpall must be black. You make your assumption clear when you evoke that they embrace the so-called victim mentality and, correspondingly, that anyone who mentions racism against blacks must therefore be black. You make your assumption -- as well as your racism -- CRYSTAL clear when you start out your brief post with "Black Folks!!!"
Just as it seems *some* white folks think that anytime someone mentions racism in contemporary society it *must* mean "victim $hit", it stands to reason *other* people in the "majority" population realize that such commentary can instead intend careful or harmless analysis of how race issues might consciously and subconsciously affect something such as a film's box office success.
In this instance, the OP was merely asking why it didn't make *more* than another hit movie of Murphy's, perhaps implying that demographics come into play with a simple romantic comedy as opposed to a shoot 'em up action comedy film.
I do think demographics play a partial, though not a full, role. A simple romantic comedy will probably not make as much money, especially with a minority in the lead, and especially when that minority in the compare/contrast movie fits a neat category of how larger audiences may like rogue-ish wise-cracking minority film characters to be.
I'm not black. I was sixteen when this movie came out, and was so disappointed when the cinema wouldn't allow my (white) friend of the same age and me buy a ticket because we were underage for an R rating. Today this movie would be PG-13 probably (with a few tweaks to the script for language and nudity), and I'm thinking that might've made a box office difference -- but the same thing could probably be said for BHC.
i thought it did fairly well, no?
to me it's a bit too long.. too many scenes could've been cut and still keep a dope movie.
idk i like it.
If it wasn't for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that was released a week later it might have been the most successful Eddie Murphy film.
shareyour just talking about that tedious high voice queen intro song right? (which they parodied in the sequel)
Some movies are like a great meal, filling, and you're satisfied enough to not see it twice.
Beverly Hills Cop was like new ride, an action comedy, you want to go on it again.