Trading Places Trading Places Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet. Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis also star. The storyline is often called a modern take on Mark Twain's classic 19th-century novel "The Prince and the Pauper". The film was written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod and was produced by Aaron Russo. It was released to
Trading Places top ten grossing films for 17 weeks. It went on to earn $90.4 million during its U.S. theatrical run, making it the 4th highest-grossing film of 1983, behind "Flashdance" ($92.9 million), "Terms of Endearment" ($108.4 million) and "Return of the Jedi" ($252.5 million), and the second highest grossing R-rated film of 1983, behind "Flashdance". Adjusted for inflation, the film remains the number 58 highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. "Trading Places" was met with positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 86%, based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of