If you were asked to recommend a movie similar to the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America, what would you select? Probably another R-rated comedy from that time period, no? What about another Murphy movie, like Beverly Hills Cop, or Trading Places? Whatever you decide, we can almost guarantee that one of the furthest things from your mind right now is The Lion King.
Sure, both films revolve around a young prince and feature fictional African locations, but that has to be where the similarities end—or so you would think. What if we told you that the 1994 Disney movie actually had more in common with Coming to America than most of the other films you’d likely suggest? Alright, let’s do this: Take a look at this clip here of James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair playing Murphy’s character Akeem’s parents, King Jaffe Joffer and Queen Aoleon Joffer:
Now check out Crown Prince Simba waking up his mom and dad, Mufasa and Sarabi, in The Lion King six years later:
Do those voices sound familiar? Yeah, that’s Jones and Sinclair you just heard voicing yet another king and queen, this time in an animated kids movie. Unfortunately, this would end up being Sinclair’s final role, as she died a year after the film was released. Her character was voiced by Alfre Woodard in the 2019 The Lion King remake, and then by Tiffany Boone in its 2024 sequel.
Jones, on the other hand, reprised his role as Mufasa several times prior to his death in 2024, beginning with 1998’s The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. His final appearance in the franchise was in the 2019 adaptation. Jones also reprised his role as Jaffe Joffer alongside Murphy’s Akeem and Arsenio Hall’s Semmi in 2021’s Coming 2 America. Funny enough, the legacy sequel features an in-joke about Wesley Snipes’s character, General Izzi, being the “inspiration for Mufasa”:
The post There’s a Link Between ‘Coming to America’ and ‘The Lion King’ That You Might’ve Missed appeared first on VICE.
