Eddie Murphy has been out of the game for a minute, though his recent turn in Dolemite Is My Name heralds a possible comeback. All the same, Gen-Z movie watchers may be surprised to learn that at one time, Eddie Murphy was the biggest comedic talent on the face of the planet. But just one viewing of Beverly Hills Cop clarifies all.
The film that shot Murphy to global superstardom and crystallized his clever, fast-talking charm for a generation spawned a pair of sequels, the most recent being released in 1994. But a new exclusive from Deadline reveals that after twenty-five years, Murphy will reprise his role of Axel Foley once again.
But this time, he’ll do so at Netflix. Deadline announced that the fourth installment in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise will find a streaming home at the Big Red N, the studio also behind Murphy’s recent tour-de-force as Rudy Ray Moore, and that series producer Jerry Bruckheimer will also be on board.
Plot details have yet to leak, but the mere existence of the project says plenty about the industry at large. Murphy’s already got a resuscitation of another classic vehicle in the works, with Paramount hard at work on a reboot of Coming to America, all of which fits into a wider trend of strip-mining nostalgia for the ’80s until it’s all been used up.
That said, Murphy proved that he’s still got the magic with his latest performance, so he could very well elevate what certainly sounds like an IP-motivated cash-in. That’s the Murphy charm – he shows up, does the job, and makes everything around him that much better.
Published 15 Nov 2019
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