pkIt’s been nearly thirty years since audiences have seen Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley. After having seemingly been stuck in development limbo for years now, the hit action-comedy series Beverly Hills Cop is set to return with the long-awaited Beverly Hills Cop 4 for Netflix. According to Deadline, up-and-coming director Mark Molloy is set to direct the film, with Jerry Bruckheimer returning to produce. While Eddie Murphy is not confirmed for the film, he is reportedly expected to return for the fourth installment.
Beverly Hills Cop IV will mark Molloy’s first directing credit on a feature film. Molloy has made a name for himself in the commercial world, having directed commercials for Apple, Go Daddy, and Nissan. Molloy received a DGA nomination in 2020 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for his work with Apple. Molloy will be replacing Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (the directing duo behind Bad Boys for Life), who dropped out of the project to work on the upcoming Batgirl film for Warner Bros.
The Beverly Hills Cop franchise was responsible for launching Eddie Murphy to stardom in the 80s, proving him to be an action star in addition to being a once in a generation comedic talent. Murphy plays Axel Foley, a street-smart cop from Detroit that ends up in Beverly Hills to solve his cases for various different reasons throughout the series. Judge Reinhold and Gil Hill also starred in the series, making appearances in all three films. The first film, released in 1984, grossed $316 million and was the seventh highest grossing film that year. 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III was critically lauded, and the dip in box office returns temporarily stopped the franchise in its tracks. The film ends with Foley beginning a relationship with Janice Perkin’s character Theresa Randle and a theme park character being named after him. A pilot was shot for a television show on CBS centered around Axel Foley’s son Aaron Foley, played by Brandon T. Jackson, in 2013. However, the pilot was not picked up by the network.
The series switched from Paramount to Netflix in 2019. It is currently unknown whether Netflix plans to put the film in theaters or to send it directly to their streaming service.
There is currently no release date set for the project, and no start date has been set for production.