Eddie Murphy returning for Beverly Hills Cop 4 on Netflix
The long-gestating fourth entry in the series will finally see release on the streaming service
Eddie Murphy is returning to the franchise that made him a movie star, as Beverly Hills Cop 4 goes into production at Netflix.
The film has been languishing in development hell for decades, but has now been fast-tracked as part of a deal between the streaming giant and Paramount Pictures, the movie studio which released the first three films.
The announcement comes a month after Murphy made his Netflix debut with the critically acclaimed biopic, Dolemite Is My Name.
Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are at the helm, an up-and-coming pairing who are currently working on Will Smith's Bad Boys For Life, itself a long-awaited sequel to 2003's Bad Boys II.
Beverly Hills Cop was released in 1984 and stars Murphy as wisecracking police detective Axel Foley, who takes on the criminal world of Los Angeles as he investigates the murder of a friend.
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The film was a huge hit at the time of release, grossing over $300 million at the box office, and even earning itself an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
It was followed up by two sequels, in 1987 and 1994 respectively, which fared worse both critically and commercially. The third film was widely panned by critics and audiences, with Murphy himself calling it "atrocious" during an interview on Inside The Actors Studio.
Attempts to get a fourth film off the ground date back to 2006, but the project has fallen foul of several delays over script disagreements.
Murphy is on quite the nostalgia kick right now, having also recently filmed a sequel to 1988's Coming to America, another of his career-making movies, which is set for a release on 18th December 2020.
Beverly Hills Cop 4 has no confirmed release date at the time of writing.
