First Picture of ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley’

The fourth film in the franchise is directed by Mark Molloy and will arrive via Netflix.

Eddie Murphy in 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley.' Photo: Empire Magazine.

Preview:

The first image of ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley’ has landed.
Eddie Murphy stars alongside Taylour Paige and some returning veterans.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has praised his star and the film itself.

For a long time there, it looked like a fourth ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie might never happen (and some hoped it wouldn’t, given how the third turned into a disappointment for many fans).

But happen it has, with Netflix backing the latest installment. Eddie Murphy returns to play maverick cop Axel Foley in a new movie named 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley,' and a planned return for some veteran actors from the franchise.

And the first image from the movie is now online via Empire magazine’s site.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

R1 hr 58 minJul 3rd, 2024

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What’s the story of ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley’?

Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Joining the current trend of “legacy sequels” (think ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ or David Gordon Green’s ‘Halloween’ and ‘Exorcist’ movies, which follow the same character years later), ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley’ will pick up the story of Murphy’s officer Foley, whom in his original film, swapped the tough streets of Detroit for the sunnier climes of Los Angeles –– but still found plenty of challenges and a serious law enforcement culture clash.

These days, we’d expect Axel to be a little more low-key, though we doubt he’ll have lost his smarts and wit. And with some veteran cast members also returning, it’ll be a shot of nostalgia for ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ fans, even if some will worry it can’t live up to the first film in particular.

Taylour Paige is playing Foley’s criminal defense attorney daughter, who pulls her dad into a California-based case –– where he’ll cause issues for Kevin Bacon’s LAPD special-unit officer, and team up with a new partner, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

According to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Gordon-Levitt’s character essentially being stuck with Axel, and they are “hilarious” together.

Who else in in ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley’?

(L to R) Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, John Ashton as John Taggart and Judge Reinhold as William "Billy" Rosewood in 'Beverly Hills Cop II.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

In addition to the people mentioned above, the cast includes the returning likes of Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, John Ashton and Bronson Pinchot.

Also aboard? New faces Patricia Belcher, James Preston Rogers and Suzanne Ford.

What has happened with the new ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie so far?

Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop II.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

The fourth movie is something that originated back in the 1990s when Murphy set up a version at original studio home Paramount via his production company. It never got past the development stage but pinged the radar again in 2006 when Jerry Bruckheimer –– who produced the first three –– announced that he was trying to get the fourth made.

Fellow super-producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stepped in after that, and the project went through a variety of script re-writes, including work from Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.

Yet nothing seemed to be solved on the writing side, and in 2011, the announcement came that the movie was being thrust back into development jail in favor of a spin-off TV series for CBS that would have seen ‘Percy Jackson’ actor Brandon T. Jackson play Axel Foley’s son, Aaron.

‘The Shield’s Shawn Ryan came aboard to produce the show, which cast Kevin Pollak and David Denman, with Barry Sonnenfeld agreeing to direct the pilot.

Sadly, for the small screen version, CBS passed on the pilot, and it returned to the ether.

(L to R) Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, Lisa Eilbacher as Jeanette "Jenny" Summers and Judge Reinhold as William "Billy" Rosewood in 'Beverly Hills Cop.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

After that flame-out, Paramount pushed ahead with the movie again, bringing Brett Ratner back in and having Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec write a new script draft. Though it got as close as securing tax credits for shooting in Detroit and landing a March 25, 2016, release date, it was shut down because of script concerns and Ratner left it like a sinking ship.

But Paramount remained committed, hiring ‘Bad Boys for Life’ co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (though this was on the back of their indie movie work and before they made the latest ‘Bad Boys’), pushing the movie back into pre-production.

Murphy announced that the movie would shoot once he finished work on ‘Coming 2 America’, but it never materialized.

In 2019, Paramount licensed the movie to Netflix, intending to have the streaming service make the fourth and a potential fifth entry. El Arbi and Fallah left post-‘Bad Boys’ to focus on ‘Batgirl’ (and we all know what happened there) and the potential movie sat on the shelf once more.

And then, in April of last year, it was revealed that director Mark Malloy would make his feature directorial debut after cutting his teeth on commercials.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer on Eddie Murphy’s return and the movie itself

Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop.' Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Here’s Bruckheimer talking up his star to Empire:

“Anytime he walks on set, you never know what you’re going to get. And it’s always pretty brilliant. Every day he’s there throws you back to the ‘80s.”

And here’s the producer discussing the film’s tone: