A new Beverly Hills Cop 4 set photo shows the return of Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley. Murphy’s rise as a superstar began with his memorable stint on Saturday Night Live. But that rise achieved meteoric status when he starred as wisecracking Detroit police detective Axel Foley in the blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop.
Murphy of course had already done the wisecracking action-comedy thing opposite established vet Nick Nolte in 48 Hrs.. But Beverly Hills Cop was a true starring vehicle for the SNL alum, who proved the hype was real by carrying the comedic action vehicle to a worldwide box office gross of $316 million. Sequels followed in 1987 and 1994, but after the disappointing Beverly Hills Cop 3, the character of Axel Foley was put in mothballs seemingly forever. However, rumors of a possible Beverly Hills Cops 4 heated up in recent years, until in 2019 it was revealed that Netflix had picked up the rights to the sequel from Paramount, seemingly putting the long-awaited film on the road to realization.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Now it can be confirmed that Beverly Hills Cop 4 is indeed filming, as Murphy himself has been spotted on the set being put through his paces as Axel Foley. Twitter user @lesley_dis provided the newest set photo, which shows Murphy filming on the sidewalk surrounded by crew members. In case there was any doubt that he’s playing Detroit cop Axel Foley, Murphy is seen wearing Foley's familiar Detroit Lions jacket. See the image in the space below:
Few details have been confirmed about Beverly Hills Cop 4 in terms of plot. However, it has been revealed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will join Murphy in the movie’s cast. It’s also been confirmed that TV commercial director Mark Molloy is making his feature film debut on the sequel. Murphy obviously has been grilled about the movie many times over the years, and made it plain that he wouldn’t tackle Beverly Hills Cop 4 without a worthy script. The return of Axel Foley of course comes after Murphy recently revisited another of his iconic ‘80s films, reprising multiple roles for the long-delayed sequel Coming 2 America.
Critics unfortunately were not blown away by Murphy’s return in Coming 2 America, as the Netflix film currently holds just a 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Hopefully the return of Axel Foley will be met with more acclaim than the return of Prince Akeem and Murphy’s other Coming to America characters. Fans of the original Beverly Hills Cop movies clearly have plenty of reason to be skeptical that Murphy can recapture the streetwise magic of the first two movies (no one really wants to think about Beverly Hills Cop 3). Beverly Hills Cop 4 does not yet have a release date.