Eddie Murphy Strikes Three-Movie Deal With Amazon Studios

Eddie Murphy has a new home for his next few movies. As announced by Amazon Studios today, the company has officially closed a three-picture and first-look film deal with the Oscar nominee and star of such pictures as "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Coming to America." Also see: the very underrated "Bowfinger." Under the deal, Murphy will star in three films for Amazon Studios in addition to developing original film projects for Prime Video. Those other projects come with the potential for him to star.

We're very excited to announce that Amazon Studios has closed a three-picture and first-look film deal with the one and only Eddie Murphy! pic.twitter.com/VGPb8s8g6z

— Amazon Studios (@AmazonStudios) September 22, 2021

The deal follows the release of the "Coming 2 America" earlier this year. Originally, Paramount was going to release the much-anticipated sequel in theaters, but the pandemic made it possible for Amazon to swoop in. The movie did quite well, apparently. Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, had this to say about the deal:

"Eddie is a legend both in front of and behind the camera. With undeniable comedic and dramatic genius, he consistently delivers entertaining, original stories and characters to audiences around the world. We could not be more excited to help carry on the tradition and to officially welcome Eddie into the Amazon family."

Murphy had spent several years not doing a whole lot. Before that, he spent a good chunk of time churning out maligned movies like "Norbit." But over the last few years, he's made quite the comeback. Between "Dolemite is My Name," "Coming 2 America" and an Emmy-nominated turn as host on "Saturday Night Live," the man has returned to glory. We can only hope this Amazon deal paves the way for more greatness to come.

"Dolemite Is My Name," which earned Murphy a Golden Globe nomination, was made by Netflix. The upcoming Kenya Barris comedy Murphy is starring in with Jonah Hill is also being made by Netflix. The long-awaited "Beverly Hills Cop 4" is happening at Netflix. It seemed like Murphy had a pretty good thing going with Netflix. Yet, it was Amazon that swooped in and managed to lock him down with a deal that extends for at least a few years. That is, undoubtedly, a big win for Amazon in the streaming wars.

One streaming service's win is another's loss. Netflix consistently shells out huge deals for creators to keep them in-house: Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes, and, more recently, Dan Levy. But you can't win them all. This isn't to say that Netflix was also trying to lock Murphy down with an exclusive deal. Though they have been working with him a lot and, at the very least, one has to imagine the brass at Netflix is green with envy right about now.