Eddie Murphy had been set to return to the big screen as the wisecracking black cop in the beat-up Chevy Nova, but the project has been halted by the studio. Murphy was set to reprise his role of Axel Foley, a Detroit detective working in Beverly Hills in what was to be the fourth installment of the franchise that got its start in the 1980s. Jerry Bruckheimer was producing and Brett Rattner was set to direct the story about Murphy returning from Beverly Hills to Detroit. Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, the folks behind “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” were hired to pen the script but the project has been put on hold.
According to Deadline Magazine, one person with knowledge of the situation said Paramount paused the project because the script wasn’t ready, but that the studio is still planning to move forward on the picture. Apparently Appelbaum and Nemec turned in a script and then former Paramount film pres Adam Goodman took them off that and had them quickly draft a script for the sequel to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” last year which is understandable as the reboot of “Ninja Turtles” ended up racking in $485M worldwide for the studio.
Eddie Murphy, officially Hollywood’s most overpaid actor in 2012, with girlfriend Paige Butcher. Photo by Danny Moloshok
The Beverly Hills cop films made Murphy a box-office superstar and a celebrity worldwide. It remains one of the all-time biggest domestic blockbusters in motion-picture history. The film was set to release March 2016. Meanwhile, Murphy is keeping busy with other projects and has been cast to star in the upcoming Lee Daniels-directed Richard Pryor biopic: LeRoy “Buck Carter” Pryor. He will play the comedian’s abusive father.
Samantha Ofole-Prince serves as the Senior Entertainment Editor for Trendy Africa. She covers industry-specific news that includes television and film.
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