Eddie Murphy‘s long-awaited fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie has never been as close to happening as it is now. Earlier this month, producer Jerry Bruckheimer hired another director for the project. Netflix also stepped up to distribute the film, picking up the rights from Paramount Pictures in 2019.
The Beverly Hills Cop franchise kicked off in December 1984, when the first movie hit theaters and cemented Murphy’s movie star status. It was his latest big hit, following the back-to-back success of his first two movies, 48 Hrs. (1982) and Trading Places (1983). Beverly Hills Cop introduced Axel Foley (Murphy), a street-smart Detroit cop who heads to Beverly Hills to solve the murder of his friend. Although released at the tail-end of 1984, it became the biggest box office smash of the year and earned Daniel Petrie Jr. and Danilo Bach an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
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Murphy, Judge Reinhold, and producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer returned for the successful 1987 sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II. The late Tony Scott directed the sequel, taking over from Martin Brest. John Landis directed Beverly Hills Cop III in 1994. Although the third film wasn’t a critical success, it still made enough money to consider keeping the franchise going. Scroll on to find out how the plans for Beverly Hills Cop IV are going.
Mark Molloy is the new director
On April 8, 2022, Deadline reported that Mark Molloy was hired to direct the movie from a script by Will Beall (Aquaman, Gangster Squad). Molloy has not directed a film yet but earned buzz in the industry for several successful Apple commercials. Bad Boys For Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah left the project to focus on their HBO Max movie Batgirl. Deadline‘s sources said Beverly Hills Cop IV is still in development, but there is no start date for production.
Netflix picked up sequel rights from Paramount
The first three Beverly Hills Cop movies were all released by Paramount Pictures. However, Paramount opted to grant Netflix the sequel rights to the fourth movie in November 2019. Netflix and Paramount previously teamed up for Cloverfield: God Particle and Alex Garland’s Annihilation. Paramount’s decision to hand one of its most famous franchises to Netflix seemed like a good idea in 2019 after long-delayed sequels like The Shining follow-up Doctor Sleep and The Terminator: Dark Fate flopped.
The movie already has a California state tax credit
The April director switch happened just a few weeks after The Hollywood Reporter reported the movie was among 11 studio films to get a California state tax credit for 2022. Beverly Hills Cop IV‘s estimated tax credit is $16,059,000. Netflix also scored an estimated $20.54 million tax credit for Jennifer Lopez’s Atlas movie.
The pandemic delayed production
Murphy hoped Beverly Hills Cop IV would start production almost immediately after he finished Coming 2 America, but that didn’t happen. The coronavirus pandemic also delayed the production. In May 2020, Arbi and Fallah told MovieWeb they were still involved in the project, but there was no script.
“We’re still involved in that project, and there’s a screenwriter now on it that’s going to try to write a first draft or a first treatment at least with the story,” Arbi said. “So we’re going to see what the first version will be, but we’re very excited and hope that we can work with another icon like Eddie Murphy. That’d be great.”
Disgraced filmmaker Brett Ratner almost directed
Murphy has been trying to make Beverly Hills Cop IV since the late 1990s. During the 2000s, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stepped in, and Brett Ratner was hired to direct. Ratner directed the Rush Hour movies and Murphy in Tower Heist. He also hired Murphy to host the 84th Academy Awards when he was producing.
It’s a good thing Ratner’s involvement didn’t get very far. Ratner’s first big controversy came when he was forced to resign from producing the 2012 Oscars because he used a homophobic slur during rehearsals. This also led to Murphy dropping out and being replaced by Billy Crystal.
During the #MeToo movement, Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge, Elliot Page, and other women accused Ratner of sexual harassment and assault. Warner Bros. severed ties with Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment.
The franchise almost continued as a TV show
After the Ratner/di Bonaventure version fell apart, Paramount tried a television series to keep the franchise alive. Brandon T. Jackson was cast as Axel’s son Aaron, and Murphy even appeared in the pilot. CBS ultimately passed on the project, which came as a surprise to many in Hollywood. In 2016, The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, who was involved in the project, told Rotten Tomatoes he never got a straight answer.
“I don’t know that I have a definitive answer,” Ryan said. “I think there’s an official answer. I think there’s an unofficial answer that some investigative reporter might uncover one day. The official answer is they decided they liked other pilots better. If you look at what pilots they picked up that year, I think that’s kind of incredible. I would say there were a lot of 400 lb. gorillas involved in the show, and sometimes, the gorillas don’t always get along. It was a show that CBS did not own. It was produced by Sony and Paramount Pictures. You can do your own research into the relationship between CBS and Paramount Pictures.”
After the series died, Paramount went back to making a Beverly Hills Cop IV movie. In 2014, Paramount hired Ratner to direct, even after the Oscars scandal. There was even a March 25, 2016, release date planned. In May 2015, Paramount pulled it from the calendar, and that version never moved forward.
