Eddie Murphy’s umpteenth comeback continues. Following his well-received leading role in Dolemite Is My Name, Murphy is now set to appear in the third Beverly Hills Cop sequel (the last one, Beverly Hills Cop III, was released in 1994 and was described as “garbage” by Murphy). Variety announces that “Netflix has nabbed the rights to make a sequel to Beverly Hills Cop,” which will see Murphy “reprise his role as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop who finds himself transplanted to the tony streets of Beverly Hills.” No word on whether Murphy’s BHC franchise pals like Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot will also be returning.
This announcement follows news of another Murphy sequel with a lengthy lead time since the source material: Coming 2 America, the followup to Murphy’s 1988 hit Coming To America, is due out next year. Murphy will also soon be returning to his old stomping grounds, Saturday Night Live, for the first time in 35 years as a guest host. He shared his SNL excitement in a Variety interview with Antonio Banderas (and it took us way too long to realize was a Shrek reunion).
Variety notes that Beverly Hills 4’s move to Netflix “comes when follow-ups and reboots to aging properties such as Terminator, The Shining, Men in Black, and Shaft have fallen flat at the theatrical box office.” Harsh, but true.