As reported in September, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer decided to end their once-perfect marriage, following years of increased tension at home and Bruckheimer just leaving his expensive trains everywhere. And now, as in so many break-ups, Bruckheimer is rebounding with an ex and slipping back into old habits: Deadline reports that Bruckheimer has signed a three-year first-look deal with his old paramour Paramount, and the first things they plan to do now that they’re back together will be those long-rumored sequels to Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun 2. Trying to recapture the magic is never easy, but Bruckheimer and Paramount have already entrusted Beverly Hills Cop 4 to Brett Ratner, the director who recognizes that sometimes, those first relationships are just rehearsals, meant to be ignored by all who aren’t words that Brett Ratner doesn’t say publicly anymore.
A new Beverly Hills Cop was, of course, in the works even before Bruckheimer and Paramount reunited, with Ratner's years of talk about a big-screen sequel giving way to a failed television pilot and then back around to a movie again. And Top Gun 2 was similarly being prepped long before this, its modern, drone pilot-inspired tale passed among several writers before it was slow-motion spiked in the wake of Tony Scott’s death. But now they’re moving forward with Bruckheimer in charge, both Eddie Murphy and Tom Cruise on board, and all involved looking to build a bright new future by reliving their past, which always works out. And like anyone who’s ever gotten back together with a former lover knows, this will only end in car chases and explosions.