Plans for a Beverly Hills Cop TV series failed after CBS passed on the idea last year, despite word that the pilot tested so well that it caused Paramount to put another Beverly Hills Cop movie into development.
News of a 4th BHC movie were first confirmed in July, when it was announced that Eddie Murphy would reprise his role as Axel Foley.
And now Paramount Pictures, in a new 3-year deal the studio signed with super producer Jerry Bruckheimer, has set a March 25, 2016 release date for the upcoming movie – an odd date. I would’ve pegged it for a summer debut, not an early spring release. But I’m sure Paramount knows exactly what it’s doing here.
Beverly Hills Cop 4 will be the first project made under this new deal, which brings both Bruckheimer and Paramount together again (they launched the franchise together, along with Bruckheimer’s late partner Don Simpson, back in the 1980s).
It’s also been reported that Brett Ratner is now attached to direct the 4th film. He last directed Eddie in 2011’s Tower Heist.
The story for the 4th film will see Foley returning to Detroit (maybe in a move to help stimulate the economy in that ailing city, and I won’t be surprised if the decay is worked into the storyline some how).
Speaking of reboots of Bruckheimer-Simpson-Paramount 1980s hit movies, also under this new deal, the long-in-the-works Top Gun sequel, with Tom Cruise back to star, is also on the table.