Beverly Hills Cop (film series)

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is introduced as a Detroit cop who, after the murder of his friend, travels to California to investigate and track down the killer(s), whom he believes operate an art dealership as a cover in Beverly Hills. He teams up with two reluctant detectives from the Beverly Hills Police Department, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton), who were ordered to keep a watch on him, especially after seeing Foley's differing approach to police work, tactics considered unacceptable by the chief of police.

Axel returns to Beverly Hills, after finding out that Captain Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox) was shot. He once again teams up with Detective Billy Rosewood and Sgt. John Taggart, who, reluctantly and against incompetent and verbally abusive Police Chief Harold Lutz's (Allen Garfield) orders, help Foley to find out the person responsible for Bogomil's shooting. Axel, Billy, and John soon discover that the alphabet crimes, a series of felonies (robberies and Bogomil's shooting) that have been going on in the area, are masterminded by weapons kingpin Maxwell Dent (Jürgen Prochnow). With this information, Axel, Billy, and Taggart try to find Dent and his lover, Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen), (who had shot Bogomil).

Axel returns to Beverly Hills once again. During an assignment, his boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) is killed, and certain evidence points towards an amusement park called "Wonderworld". Upon arriving in Beverly Hills, Axel looks up the detective Billy Rosewood, who has attained the title of DDOJSIOC (Deputy Director of Joint Special Inter Operational Command). Taggart has retired and a new detective called Jon Flint (Hector Elizondo) serves as Rosewood's new partner.

A fourth entry in the series was initially announced for release in the mid-'90s, under the production of Eddie Murphy's production company, though this never came to fruition.[4] The project was announced to once again be in development in 2006, with Jerry Bruckheimer once again serving as producer. This changed when Lorenzo di Bonaventura took over as producer.[5][6] After various versions of the script had undergone rewrites, Brett Ratner signed on to direct.[7][8][9][10][11][12] By July 2018, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired as screenwriters to rewrite the existing script.[13][4] After the script was completed, it was decided that the story needed another rewrite.[4][14][15][16]

By October 2011, a fourth film was shelved in favor of a television series centered around Axel's son named Aaron. Murphy signed on as producer for the series, citing issues with the script as the reason that the film was not being made.[17] In December 2013 after filming a pilot episode, and when CBS passed on a series order, Paramount once again announced movement on Beverly Hills Cop IV. Ratner was once again hired to serve as director, with Eddie Murphy reprising the role of Axel Foley and Brett Ratner will direct.[18] By May 2014, Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec were hired to write the screenplay.[2] The state of Michigan approved $13.5 million in film incentives, based on an estimated $56.6 million of filmmaker spending in the state. The film would be shot in and around Detroit and was estimated to provide jobs for 352 workers. The film was originally scheduled for a March 25, 2016 release,[19] but was later pulled from this release, due again to concerns regarding the script.[20][21]

In June 2016, it was announced that Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, were hired to replace Ratner as co-directors for the film.[22] In September 2018, the filmmakers expresseded their interest in having Tom Hardy or Channing Tatum cast in supporting roles.[23] In October 2019, Murphy announced that principle photography will commence, once Coming 2 America has finished production.[24] In November 2019, Paramount Pictures announced that they had licensed the property to be distributed by Netflix, with options for an additional sequel thereafter.[25] By May 2020, after delays in the filmmaking business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Arbi and Fallah confirmed they are still attached as co-directors and that a new screenwriter was working on a new script for the film.[3][26]

CBS ordered a pilot with Brandon T. Jackson starring as Axel Foley's son, Aaron.[27] The hour long crime drama was produced by the critically acclaimed writer Shawn Ryan who created The Shield and The Chicago Code.[28]

In January 2013, Ryan stated, "It's going to be a CBS procedural. We're going to solve a case every week, but we're going to do it with a lot of humor and a lot of fun. And I would say the stealth thing I would like to get in is, in a day and age when income inequality and class inequities dominate a lot of the country, this is going to be an opportunity to put a young working-class kid in Detroit in the middle of Beverly Hills, you can do a lot of stealth social commentary. My approach is to update it and make it feel modern and 2013. The pilot opens with a 4-5 minute sequence which I think is really harrowing and really dangerous, that would be something that you might have seen on Chicago Code or The Shield. I want it to feel grounded in that way. There'll be some opportunities for laughs after that. It's not a laughs come first show."[29]

In February 2013, Kevin Pollak was cast as Rodney Daloof, an irritating and incredibly risk-averse in-house attorney for the Beverly Hills Police Department.[30] David Denman was cast as Brad, an honest and likable but socially awkward detective, formerly a baseball player and a musician.[31] Director Barry Sonnenfeld agreed to both direct the Beverly Hills Cop pilot and serve as an executive producer.[32] In May 2013, CBS decided to pass on the Beverly Hills Cop TV series.[33] In August 2013, Jackson gave his reason about the pass:

I think we were very edgy for CBS. I think we were the edgiest as you could've went for CBS. It would have been like a Fresh Prince thing on CBS, like the edgiest you can go on network TV. But it doesn't agree to our franchise man."[34]

In February 2015, Eddie Murphy stated that his cameo appearance in the pilot ironically doomed the show's chances: "I was gonna be in the pilot, and they thought I should be recurring. I'm not gonna do Beverly Hills Cop on TV. I remember when they tested it — they had this little knob that you turn if you like it or you don't like it. So when Axel shows up in the pilot, some people turned the knob so much, they broke it. So the network decided 'if he isn't recurring, then this isn't gonna happen'. So it didn't happen."[35] In 2019, Murphy reiterates this statement:

The reason that didn't get picked up was because [the studio] thought that I was going to be in this show, because [the lead] was my son: "And you're going to pop in every now and then". I was like, "I ain't popping in shit". "Well, we ain't making this TV show". I was in the pilot, but they wanted me to be there every week. The pilot was really good. It tested where they have these knobs [that you] turn if you like it. And whenever I came on the screen, Axel Foley would come on the screen, they turned it so they literally broke the knobs on the thing. It was like, "Damn, they breaking knobs?"[36]

In a January 2016 interview, Shawn Ryan blamed personality clashes with the network: "The official answer is they decided they liked other pilots better. If you look at what pilots they picked up that year, I think that's kind of incredible. I would say there were a lot of 400 lb. gorillas involved in the show and sometimes the gorillas don't always get along." He also said that he was very proud of the pilot and loved working with Murphy.[37]

During late summer 2013, after CBS decided to pass on the TV series, Paramount decided to move forward with the fourth film.

Beverly Hills Cop[52]

• Academy Awards
  • nominated for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) - Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie, Jr.
• British Academy Film Awards
  • Nominated for Best Score - Harold Faltermeyer
• Golden Globe Awards
  • Nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
  • Nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Eddie Murphy

Beverly Hills Cop II[53]

• Academy Awards
  • Nominated for Best Original Song for "Shakedown"[6] - Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey and Bob Seger
• Golden Globe Awards
  • Nominated for Best Original Song for "Shakedown"[54] - Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, and Bob Seger
• Golden Raspberry Awards
  • Winner for Worst Original Song for "I Want Your Sex"[55] - George Michael

Beverly Hills Cop III

• Golden Raspberry Awards
  • Nominated for Worst Director - John Landis
  • Nominated for Worst Remake or Sequel