Paramount is officially back on track this week with word that two new directors are signed to direct the long-awaited on-again-off-again Beverly Hills Cop 4. Belgian directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are attached to helm the film following the initial trilogy thusfar with actor and comedian Eddie Murphy expected to reprise the role of cunning, quick-witted fish-out-of-water Detroit detective, Axel Foley.
The first two films measure excellently as buddy-cop action classics of yesteryear with the first two showcasing the misadventures of Foley and odd-couple Beverly Hills detectives Rosewood and Taggart, played by Judge Reinhold and John Ashton. The third, lesser-received of the bunch has since been one of the main motivators for Murphy to have any interest in doing a fourth film at all given the franchise’s legacy, and all while lingering in development hell as it was passed between the hands of Jerry Bruckheimer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Brett Ratner, and the folks at CBS who tried planning a TV series that also fell by the wayside.
El Arbi and Fallah most recently garnered praise late last year at the Toronto Film Festival for their award-winning drama, Black. Production details are pending while it still feels somewhat speculative considering the poor luck this film has gone through. Maybe this time things will stick and Foley will be back to stuffing bananas in tailpipes again. We’ll see soon enough! (Variety)