Brett Ratner in Talks to Direct Beverly Hills Cop IV
May 30, 2008

After Beverly Hills Cop III was turned into what felt like a kids movie as compared to the gritty, Ferrari charged action packed Tony Scott helmed Beverly Hills Cop II, we thought the popular Eddie Murphy toplined franchise was gone forever after it died a horrible and undeserving box-office death. In fact, many of us nuts and bolts here at The Deadbolt believe Beverly Hills Cop II is still one of the better sequels to a movie in the past 30 years. It certainly stands as an example of a good sequel as compared to how sequels have evolved.

Last year it was reported that Eddie Murphy would be returning to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise to step into the shoes of Detroit cop Axel Foley for a fourth time and it looks like Paramount has put the film on their release docket for 2010. As Variety reports, Rush Hour director Brett Ratner is currently in talks to revive the franchise while Paramount is aiming to get the project into production in 2009 if the right script can be delivered on time. Although a writer hasn’t been tapped for the project, it looks like fans could be hearing a new version of Harold Faltermeyer’s "Axel F" theme song sometime soon.

For as much critical heat Brett Ratner has taken in recent years (some deserved and some not so deserved), he seems like a great fit given how the Rush Hour films share many similar qualities to the Beverly Hills Cop movies... at least the first two.