Eddie Murphy signs three-picture and first-look film deal with Amazon Studios

Mumbai: Amazon Studios has closed a three-picture and first-look film deal with Academy Award-nominee and Emmy Award-winner Eddie Murphy, it was announced Thursday.

Under the deal, which comes following the success of "Coming 2 America", Murphy will star in three films for Amazon Studios and develop original film projects for Prime Video and Studios with the potential to star.

"Coming 2 America", which released in March on Prime Video, was the #1 streamed movie of the weekend, with the #1 opening weekend of any other streaming movie in 2021 to date, and #1 opening weekend of any streaming movie in the past 12 months (post-COVID theater closures), per third party Screen Engine/ASI's weekly PostVODTM ranking.

The film also topped Nielsen's weekly streaming rankings among all streamed SVOD content.

Eddie is a legend both in front of and behind the camera, said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios.

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's most popular films include "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Daddy Day Care". He recently portrayed the legendary underground comic personality Rudy Ray Moore in Netflix's "Dolemite Is My Name".

The actor, 60, recently received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his return to "Saturday Night Live".

He will next produce and star in Netflix's "Beverly Hills Cop 4" and star opposite Jonah Hill in a Kenya Barris-directed comedy for Netflix.