Trading Places was considered a box-office success on its release, earning over $90.4 million to become the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1983 in the United States and Canada, and $120.6 million worldwide.

Elmer Bernstein scored the film, using Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera buffa The Marriage of Figaro as an underlying theme. Principal photography took place from December 1982 to March 1983, entirely on location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York City. Landis also cast Curtis, against the intent of the studio, Paramount Pictures she was famous mainly for her roles in horror films, which were looked down upon at the time. When they were unable to participate, Landis cast Aykroyd-with whom he had worked previously-and a young but increasingly popular Murphy in his second feature-film role. He and his writing partner Weingrod developed the idea as a project to star Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Harris conceived the outline for Trading Places in the early 1980s after encountering two wealthy brothers who were engaged in an ongoing rivalry with each other. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker (Aykroyd) and a poor street hustler (Murphy) whose lives cross when they are unwittingly made the subject of an elaborate bet to test how each man will perform when their life circumstances are swapped.

Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis, with a screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod.

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