Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop 4 Gets A Director

A director has reportedly been found for Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop 4. The next installment in the fan-favorite comedy franchise is taking a detour from the big screen for Netflix, as Murphy reprises his role as Detroit cop Axel Foley. According to Deadline, newcomer Mark Molloy is being tapped to replace the exiting Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who were originally going to helm the project. The directing duo ended up taking the reigns of the HBO Max DC film Batgirl. They're no strangers to continuing hit franchises, having directed 2020's Bad Boys for Life with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The outlet also states Beverly Hills Cop 4 is still in development and a date hasn't been set for production to begin. News of Paramount and Netflix partnering for a new Bevery Hills Cop movie came in November 2019. Paramount reportedly made a one-time licensing deal with Netflix to produce another Beverly Hills Cop movie, with the option for one additional sequel. Jerry Bruckheimer is also returning to produce. Mark Molloy has made a name for himself producing commercials for Apple products.

Murphy has been eyeing Beverly Hills Cop 4 as his next project, stating as much when his Coming to America sequel was completed. Coming 2 America ended up skipping theaters and premiering on Prime Video in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

"Yeah, that's what we're doing after Coming 2 America, we're doing Beverly Hills Cop and then the plan is to get back on stage and do stand up and then kind of that's what I'll be doing mostly is stand up and Beverly Hills Cop," Murphy told Collider.

Beverly Hills Cop 4 was among the nearly two-dozen projects receiving millions of tax credit incentives from California. The Netflix and Paramount Pictures sequel, again starring Eddie Murphy as wise-cracking Detroit cop Axel Foley, will cop nearly $15.8 million from the California Film Commission and is estimated to generate in-state spending of $78 million.

One of Murphy's next projects will see him portray Rock and Roll Hall of Famer George Clinton, the leader of the funk group Parliament-Funkadelic, in a new biopic being produced by Davis Entertainment. The company is securing the rights to Clinton's story and will then go on to attach a writer and a home to the project. With Eddie Murphy securing a three-picture deal with Amazon following Coming 2 America, that's one possible landing spot for the project.