With about ten months until it was set to hit theaters and still no sign of production gearing up, Paramount Pictures has quietly removed Beverly Hills Cop 4 from its release calendar.
The Wrap broke the story earlier today, stating that the studio is still working on developing the project it announced over a year ago, citing a slower than anticipated script development process.
In a January interview with Rolling Stone, franchise star Eddie Murphy stated that he would only return to play wisecracking cop Axel Foley when the script was absolutely perfect.
They[‘re] still trying to get that script right. I’m not doing a ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ unless they have a really incredible script. I’ve read a couple things that look like they can make some paper, but I’m not doing a shitty movie just to make some paper. The shit got to be right.
Paramount has been working at various ways to revive the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. Before this latest film attempt, they had developed a pilot for a TV series that would feature Axel Foley’s son as the lead with Murphy to occasionally appear. The pilot was not picked up. More recently, writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec have been working with director Brett Ratner on this latest attempt.
It also doesn’t help that the move takes the film away from having to open up against Warner Brothers’ Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice juggernaut.
