Beverly Hills Cop 4 Is A Go; Eddie Murphy Coming Back As Axel Foley

[Mitch Henessey]

EXCLUSIVE: Though it recently looked like the Beverly Hills Cop saga would continue on television, Paramount Pictures has begun moving fast on another movie. The studio has enlisted Eddie Murphy to reprise his role as Axel Foley, and they’ve set Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec to write that script. That duo has done very well at the studio, with recent script credits that include Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake.

Related: SHOCKER: ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Gets Pass At CBS, Likely To Be Shopped Elsewhere

The series began in 1984, tailor made for Murphy as the tough talking Detroit cop who was an outsider and excoriated by authority, but who was the smartest cop on the block. Martin Brest directed the first one, Tony Scott helmed the second, and the last one was directed by John Landis in 1994, back when Murphy was one of the studio’s biggest stars. The series grossed near $750 million collectively. Paramount adds that to another retro project that originated in the ’80s, a sequel to 1986′s Top Gun, which has been in limbo since the film’s director, Scott, committed suicide. Tom Cruise was ready to star at that point.

We hear the newest installment in the film franchise was fueled by the interest sparked by the Beverly Hills Cop pilot this past season. The project, written by Shawn Ryan and executive produced by Murphy and Ryan, ignited a bidding war before landing at CBS last fall where it went to a pilot starring Brandon T. Jackson as Axel’s son. Murphy reprised his role in a scene-stealing turn that had people talking. It showed that the character and Murphy’s portrayal are still pretty potent. The pilot was produced by Sony Pictures TV, with Paramount, as rights holder, coming on board after the pilot green light for what the company billed as its re-entry into television. (Paramount is restarting a TV production operation.) For whatever reason, Paramount-CBS politics or pilot testing depending who you ask, the project shockingly did not go to series. But it drew enough attention to the franchise to spawn a new movie.

Appelbaum, Nemec and Murphy are all repped by WME.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/07/par...ving-on-new-installment-of-beverly-hills-cop/

I can't say I'm too excited about this. Beverly Hills Cop III was such utter horse shit, and it's probably one of the worst #3's in any franchise/film series. After he breaks out of his shell in II, they inexplicably turn Rosewood into a shy and nervous wimp again. Murphy just phoned it, and Axel Foley was a watered down version of the character we saw in the first two films. The humor and the plot were horrendous, and the R rating felt so unnecessary.

After Tower Heist, I had some restored faith in Eddie Murphy, but A Thousand Words just reminded me of how shit Murphy's been over the years. Yes, I know the studio (forget which one) wanted to capitalize off of Murphy's success in Tower Heist, so they released A Thousand Words, a film that was sitting on the shelf since 2008. But it was a terrible comedy regardless.

As far as a director goes, maybe they'll choose Brett Ratner? Hell, Murphy and Ratner have become such good buddies in real life, and Ratner can still brag about Rush Hour. I've seen some people suggest Michael Bay in other places, and dear god I hope that doesn't happen. From reading other comments, some people are suggesting Bay's "noisy, senseless barrage of action sequences, and let's blow shit up every five minutes" style would be a perfect fit for a Beverly Hills Cop film, but I can't see it. If I was forced to choose between the two, I'd EASILY take Ratner over Bay any day of the week. Hopefully, we'll see the real Axel Foley from I and II, and not the imitation PG Axel Foley from III.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

This would bring up another thread that could be discussed at length, "Which movie was the beginning of the end for Eddie Murphy?" I've always said it was Beverly Hills Cop III. And that depresses me so much that it was Rated R. I had no idea till you mentioned it Mitch. Why? The stupidity was hard for children to handle?

This should not happen. At all. There's no way, given his long history of family entertainment starting in the early 90's, that they're going to make this the way it should be made. Like the first one. Eddie Murphy stopped being funny when he stopped swearing. That's just fact. He's best as a brash, aggressive comedy character. I don't need swearing for swearing. Just like I don't need blood for blood. But Eddie Murphy practically needs swearing and an R rating to be funny. Look at his filmography. All his best movies came in those days. Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop I & II (though a lot of people aren't fans of II) The Golden Child, Trading Places. I'm sure I'm missing something, but you see my point.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of "well, III happened in 1994, so who's going to remember that?" comments. But III was so bad, it's hard to forget about it, and like it or not, III was the last Beverly Hills Cop film. Plus, as you said, III was the start of Murphy's long and painful barrage of shit films, and III has been panned to death over the years as one the most infamous turkeys in Murphy's career. Another thing that pisses me off about III is, they killed off the one guy (Todd), who still had some spunk from the first two films in the beginning.

So yeah, III was so god awful it's going to be damn near impossible to come up with something that'll be a better film. I'm 99% sure 4 will just be a cash-grab sequel for Hollywood to cash-in on the nostalgia from die hard fans of the franchise. You know they're desperate for new ideas, when they announce a remake for The Butterfly Effect Setting (seriously, the original with Kutcher is only like eight or nine years old). Setting the bar low for expectations, but hopefully they won't tweak or tamper with this classic theme too much.

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[Wally Dangerously]

Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop I & II (though a lot of people aren't fans of II) The Golden Child, Trading Places. I'm sure I'm missing something

Harlem Nights was funny too. Eddie is pretty much irrelevant now, so I'm not surprised that he agreed to do this movie. No way in hell I'm watching this. Part of me wishes Eddie had never become a father, after which his R-rated humor started to diminish.

BTW, I could watch Delirious and Raw at any given moment and still laugh my ass off.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I'm 99% sure 4 will just be a cash-grab sequel for Hollywood to cash-in on the nostalgia from die hard fans of the franchise.

American Reunion or Predators anyone? Though Predators is a little different as it tried to be original while using a lot of nostalgia thrown in.

I just don't know how they can be nostalgic to the original film if it's not Rated R. Not to mention, can Eddie Murphy even pull off that kind of character anymore without looking fake as hell?

 

[Mitch Henessey]

American Reunion or Predators anyone? Though Predators is a little different as it tried to be original while using a lot of nostalgia thrown in.

Good examples. I mean, after they released all those atrocious and unbearable straight-to-video American Pie films, American Reunion felt like an Oscar worthy film, and bringing back the heart and soul of the American Pie casts helped a lot. As I said before, Inspector Todd is dead, but you'll still have Murphy coming back. Plus, I can't imagine Judge Reinhold (Rosewood) and John Ashton (Taggart) are doing anything worthwhile these days, so they should be able to come back.

And of course, Predators was a breath of fresh air, because Predator 2 was garbage, and the AVP films were just as bad. So yeah, when you consider Predators and American Reunion, I guess anything's possible.

I just don't know how they can be nostalgic to the original film if it's not Rated R. Not to mention, can Eddie Murphy even pull off that kind of character anymore without looking fake as hell?

I'm sure it'll be Rated R. That shouldn't be a big problem (I hope). And if you saw Tower Heist, you can see Murphy is still capable of being the fast-talking smart ass with an attitude. I think the bigger question is, does he still want to be that guy? So if we see modern day Tower Heist Eddie Murphy, I think 4 could be okay. But if wee see Dr. Dolittle, Holy Man, The Haunted Mansion, or The Adventures Of Pluto Nash Eddie Murphy, then I'm sure 4 will be shit. And all this Eddie Murphy talk has reminded how much I hated Vampire In Brooklyn.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I don't have much hopes for this movie. I'm a big fan of the 1st Beverly Hills Cop but thought the other 2 were just awful.

The real question for this movie is how it's gonna be written and who is directing it. Tower Heist surprised the shit out of me in the fact that Eddie Murphy is still capable of being a funny guy so I know he still has it in him. I love Eddie Murphy but family friendly comedies aren't his strong suit (although I'm sure kids love them). I have no doubt given the right script and material Eddie could absolutely kill it out there and make this movie awesome.

I'm hoping they can at least get Rosewood and Taggart (mostly Rosewood) which shouldn't be much of an issue and maybe Charlie Murphy with some sort of role would be great. Overall I'm not expecting much but Beverly Hills Cop is all sorts of awesome so maybe with any luck they will nail it like Die Hard 4 or Rocky Balboa.

 

[MaureenMorris]

Speaking about the different aspects of this movie, I can see a lot of the elements from overall the Web here and there. But it became the best in the area for ages.