At least one person who was thrilled by Coming 2 America‘s arrival — Rick Ross. Not only was a portion of the film shot at his sprawling Georgia estate to mimic the fictional city of Zamunda, but he also got to keep some of the lavish decor used in the movie.
As reported by NBC News, the 45,000 square-foot Fayetteville mansion sits on 235 acres and was previously owned by boxer Evander Holyfield. With 12 bedrooms and a dining room that seats up to 100 people, it had the scale director Craig Brewer and production designer Jeffery Sage had imagined.
“That entrance foyer with the big two-story interior and double-winding staircase was perfect,” Sage said. “Off of that, there were two beautiful big rooms with giant windows and 18-foot ceilings. We used five key spaces that we turned into Zamunda.”
As Ross watched his home transform into a Zamundan palace, he inadvertently became a recipient of a permanent home makeover.
“They changed the wallpaper in the dining room so I asked them to keep it up there,” Ross said with a laugh. “They also created that huge dining room table for a dining scene that seats 50-60 people, and they left that for me as a gift. It’s humungous.”
Set decorator Douglas A. Mowat enhanced several of Ross’ other real-life rooms, bringing blues and silvers into the white primary bedroom to “make the room pop and give it more dimension.”
Ross also made a pretty penny from allowing portions of Coming 2 America to be filmed at his estate. During a interview with the Club Shay Shay podcast in January, Rozay revealed he was able to negotiate a $2.75 million payout.
“A lot of times, I don threw a number out there before, they moved a little slow and I went up on the number and they met me there,” Ross said at the time. “I actually had a film, that was filmed at my estate, and I threw a number out there. I said, ‘This is a huge production this shouldn’t be that much. Hey, I understand what you guys need, that’s $2.5 M’s. Yeah, $2.5 million, yeah, most definitely, yeah that’s it.’ Oh yeah, they moved a lil slow and, aw man we tapped out at $2.75.”
Coming 2 America is currently the No. 1 streamed movie out of Friday’s (March 5) releases and secured the No. 1 opening weekend of any other streaming movie in 2021. It’s also the biggest opening weekend of any streaming movie in the past 12 months according to 3rd party Screen Engine/ASI’s weekly Post.
Several cast favorites from Coming To America returned to their original roles, including King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones), Queen Lisa (Shari Headley), Cleo McDowell (John Amos), Maurice (Louie Anderson) and the infamous barbershop crew. Wesley Snipes, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, Jermaine Fowler, Bella Murphy, Rotimi, KiKi Layne, Nomzamo Mbatha and Teyana Taylor were also cast in the sequel.
