Eddie Murphy Is Coming Back 2 Amazon In Multi-Film Deal

The push for original streaming content continues to heat up.

What Happened: Amazon Studios, a unit of Amazon.com Inc AMZN, announced a three-picture deal with Eddie Murphy.

“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!” Amazon Studios tweeted.

Murphy will work with Amazon Studios on creating three movies he will star in and also providing movie projects with the potential to star in them.

After several years away from the movie scene, Murphy has had a recent string of successful releases and highly anticipated movies in the works.

Related Link: Amazon Announces 200M Prime Members, AWS $54B Annual Run Rate Business

Why It’s Important: The signing of Murphy follows a collaboration between the actor and studio on the sequel “Coming 2 America,” which was widely watched by Amazon Prime customers.

The sequel was lured away from Paramount Pictures, owned by ViacomCBS Inc VIAC, during the pandemic, with Amazon paying $125 million for the distribution rights.

“With undeniable comedic and dramatic genius, he consistently delivers entertaining, original stories and characters to audiences around the world,” said Amazon Studios Head Jennifer Salke.

The deal also takes Murphy away from Amazon Studios' rival Netflix Inc NFLX. Murphy has two projects in the works with Netflix including a fourth “Beverly Hills Cop” movie. Murphy’s “Dolemite Is My Name” released on Netflix received strong reviews from critics.

The announcement follows deals signed between Amazon Studios and top names like Michael B. Jordan and Nicole Kidman. Having a large backlog of blockbuster movie releases could help the company gain Amazon Prime memberships.

AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares are up 1% to $3,372.99 at publication time.

Photo: Eddie Murphy. David Shankbone / Flickr