Coming to America(1988)

R
1h 57m
- Comedy
- Romance

Release Date: Jun 29, 1988 | Wide

An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.

Releases

Original Release | Jun 29, 1988

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Box Office Results

Updated as of May 19, 2026 11:28 AM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$13,342,707
Total US & Canada:
$128,152,301
Total International
$160,600,000
Total Worldwide:
$288,752,301

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

John Landis
Director

Eddie Murphy
Prince Akeem, Clarence, Saul

Paul Bates
Oha

Garcelle Beauvais
Rose Bearer

Feather
Rose Bearer

Stephanie Simon
Rose Bearer

Victoria Dillard

Bather, Dancer

Felicia Taylor

Bather

Midori

Bather

James Earl Jones

King Jaffe Joffer

Madge Sinclair

Queen Aoleon

Sheila Johnson

Lady-in-Waiting

Arsenio Hall

Semmi, Morris, Extremely Ugly Girl

Raymond D. Turner

T-Shirt Hawker

Calvin Lockhart

Colonel Izzi

Billi Gordon

Large Woman

Vanessa Bell Calloway

Imani Izzi

Jake Steinfeld

Cab Driver

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo,Dolby Atmos,Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir to the throne of a fictitious, wealthy African country called Zamunda, is discontented with being pampered all his life on his 21st birthday and wishes to do more for himself. Akeem is woken up by a personal butler Oha (Paul Bates) every morning at 8 am to the sound of a live orchestra that plays in the balcony of his bedroom. 3 women drops petals on the floor ahead of Akeem. He has personal wipers when he goes to the toilet and naked women bathe him in his private pool. Akeem does not have to lift a finger in the entire day.Akeem tells his father that for once he would like to cook for himself and take care of himself. The final straw comes when his parents, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aeoleon (Madge Sinclair), present him with a bride-to-be, Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell), whom he has never met and who is trained to obey his every command. At the evening ball arranged in his honor, Akeem meets Imani for the first time. Imani is a gorgeously beautiful woman, whose entry to the ball is preceded by hundreds of elite dancers who enthrall the audience.Seeing that Imani is too perfect, Akeem speaks to her privately. Imani has no preferences or like/dislikes in life, music, food, books or anything else for that matter. She is only trained to make Akeem happy. Akeem realizes that he cannot have a conversation with Imani. He orders Imani to bark like a dog, hop on one leg, and act like an orangutan, which she does without hesitation.Akeem speaks to Joffer and says that he has not experienced the outside world. Joffer interprets this as Akeem not having sown his royal oats. He gives Akeem 40 days to tour the world and then he would marry Imani. Akeem concocts a plan to travel to the United States to find an independent-minded wife he can both love and respect and who accepts him for himself, not his status.He and his friend and personal aide, Semmi (Arsenio Hall) arrive in Queens, a borough of New York City, because according to Akeem, "What better place to find a queen than the city of Queens?"They rent a run-down apartment in the neighborhood of Jamaica under the guise of poor foreign students. The taxi driver leaves them in the neighborhood, where their luggage is promptly stolen. A landlord (Frankie Faison) rents them an apartment after Semmi flashes dollars at him. The building has one bathroom for the whole floor, and it positively reeks. Akeem takes the poorest room in the building, which is infested with rats. Then Akeem makes Semmi drop his suit and dress like ordinary New Yorkers. Akeem also cuts off his prince's lock.Beginning their search for Akeem's bride, they visit a nightclub. All the women Akeem meets in there are either weird or angry and have no queen like qualities in them. They are invited by local barber shop owner Clarence (Eddie Murphy) to a rally raising money for the neighborhood. During the rally, Akeem encounters Lisa McDowell who possesses all the qualities he is looking for in a woman.Upon his insistence, he and Semmi get entry-level jobs working at the local fast-food restaurant called McDowell's, a McDonald's knockoff owned by Lisa's widowed father Cleo McDowell (John Amos).Akeem falls in love with McDowell's daughter, Lisa (Shari Headley) and attempts to win Lisa's hand in marriage, which is complicated by her obnoxious and lazy boyfriend Darrell (Eriq La Salle) whose father owns Soul Glo (a Jheri curl-like hair-styling aid). After Darryl announces their engagement, without Lisa's consent, to their families, she starts dating Akeem who claims that he comes from a family of poor goat herders.Although Akeem thrives on working hard and seeing how commoners live, Semmi is not comfortable with the life of a poor man. After a dinner date with Lisa is thwarted when Semmi furnishes their apartment with a hot tub and other luxuries, Akeem confiscates his money and donates it to a homeless Mortimer and Randolph Duke. Semmi wires a telegraph to King Jaffe for more money. This causes the Zamundan royal couple to travel to the United States and reveal themselves to the McDowells.Cleo initially disapproves of Akeem as he believes he is poor and therefore not good enough for his daughter. He becomes ecstatic when he discovers that Akeem is actually an extremely wealthy prince, after meeting his parents.When Akeem discovers that his parents have arrived in New York, he and Lisa go to the McDowell residence to lie low and Cleo welcomes them while driving away Darryl. After Cleo's bond with Akeem is ruined by the unexpected arrival of the Zamundan entourage.Lisa becomes angry and confused as to why he lied to her about his identity, as he tried to convince Lisa he was a simple goat herder from Zamunda, not the prince. Akeem explains that he wanted her to love him for who, not what, he is, even offering to renounce his throne. She refuses to marry Akeem even after he offers to renounce his throne, and he returns to Zamunda with a broken heart, resigned to marry the woman chosen for him by his parents.On the way to the airport, King Joffe remarks that Akeem cannot marry Lisa anyway because of "tradition," and defending himself by saying "Who am I to change it?". As they leave, Jaffe is reprimanded by Aoleon for clinging to outdated traditions instead of thinking of their son's happiness.At the wedding procession, Akeem waits dejectedly at the altar as his bride-to-be makes her way down the aisle, but when he lifts the veil to kiss her, he finds Lisa instead of his arranged bride. They ride off happily in a carriage after the ceremony to the cheers of Zamundans. Witnessing such splendor, Lisa is impressed that Akeem would have given it up just for her. Akeem proposes that he can make his abdication official, but Lisa playfully declines and decides to become a royal instead. Mr. McDowell was also at the wedding.

Storyline

Immersed in luxury and riches, courteous Prince Akeem, the refined heir apparent to Africa's prosperous kingdom of Zamunda, summons up the courage to reject an arranged marriage proposal on his 21st birthday. As a result, bent on finding true love, the young blueblood heads to the strange urban jungle of New York City's Queens. To mask his regal descent, Akeem and his trusted valet Semmi must post as humble exchange students, doing their best to mingle with their neighbors. But more than anything in the world, the noble bachelor yearns to be loved for who he is and not for his title. Is Prince Akeem destined to find his soulmate in America's bustling Big Apple? — Nick Riganas A noble, adventurous prince and his valet agree to find love in the Big Apple against his father's wishes. While exploring the great city, a beautiful native lady commands his attention. Both of them bring their cards to the table. Will it be a match or a disaster of destruction? In the blurbs attempt to summarize the plot, someone wrote that Price Akeem and Semmi posted as common folk. They undoubtedly meant POSED, not posted! The trouble with Spell check is that a properly spelled word, no matter how ungainly or inappropriate it may be, doesn't get caught, corrected, and removed as it should be. Both posed and posted are, in fact, properly spelled. The addition of the superfluous letter "t" changed the entire context. Hint: Proofreading BEFORE publishing is ALWAYS a very good idea. Just sayin'. — hdrbernardb Prince Akeem, the heir to the throne of a wealthy African country, is arranged to be married. With his bachelor days now limited he sets off to America to sow his wild oats and also experience another culture. He ends up in New York's Queens but is unfazed by his new surrounds and sets out to live like an average Joe. — grantss