The Heat is On for Number 4: Murphy & Paramount Getting Serious about ‘Beverly Hills Cop’

The Heat is On…Again! Eddie Murphy and the gang over at Paramount Pictures are in negotiations to resuscitate the long-dead film franchise “Beverly Hills Cop”.

Somebody finally told Eddie Murphy his career was over? I was looking forward to Norbit 2!

The new Beverly Hills Cop
IV (the fourth, if you’re counting) will again follow Eddie Murphy’s badass cop from Detroit, Axel Foley, as he street-talks his way into busting up a…drug cartel? A Chinese sweatshop operating out of a dingy basement? Of course, Axel Foley can’t do it all himself; there are the Keystone cops of Beverly Hills rounding out the cast to contend with. Judge Reinhold – this might be you!

In “Coming to America”, the multi-character shtick paid off, but it quickly devolved into “The Nutty Professor”. Murphy blasted the last “Beverly Hills Cop” film for being a disgrace will on an episode of “Inside the Actor’s Studio” but says he has high hopes for the new film – which still has no script.

Paramount is probably sensing a trend here, what with the new Indiana Jones movie out now and “Transformers 2” coming out next summer. The original “Beverly Hills Cop” grossed over $316 million worldwide and the two sequels pushed that number up more to $712 million. Paramount smells the money being made and wants some of the actions. Likewise, we, the adoring public, are happy to sit through Axel Foley’s next adventure.

With Murphy on board, Brett Ratner in the director’s chair and Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing, the studio hopes to release the film by summer 2010.