BeverlyHillsCop4 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This Friday Eddie Murphy hits screens with the film Imagine That, which looks to be another family-friendly outing for the once-controversial actor. Sure, these films seem to do pretty well at the box office, and I'm positive Imagine That has just enough cutesy kid moments to attract a whole bunch of families to theaters this weekend, but what I really want is old Eddie Murphy. I want crazy Eddie Murphy. I want bug-eyed Eddie Murphy. I want the Eddie Murphy who couldn't blurt out two lines of dialogue without cursing seven times.

That's the Eddie Murphy I want back in theaters, and while I hope he brings some of that to the planned Beverly Hills Cop 4, part of me feels like that Eddie is long gone and only available in films from the early 90s or prior (with the exception of the hilarious Bowfinger in 1999). So with all that in mind, I decided to dig up a little old Eddie to go with the new Eddie arriving in theaters this week, and since I just watched Trading Places with some buddies again over the weekend, I had to go with this clip because we all agreed it showed Eddie at his best. (And whoever that guy is who keeps saying "Yeah" -- well, he should've won an award for comedic timing in this scene because that dude just cracks me the hell up.)

Watch the scene after the jump.

Ever since director Brett Ratner accidentally said something along the lines of making a Beverly Hills Cop 4 the kids can all enjoy, folks everywhere cried bloody murder -- afraid this latest installment in the action-comedy franchise would go PG-13 ... or, gasp, PG! But lately all those involved are dancing to a new, much darker tune, and it would appear the sequel will try its best to imitate the heart, soul and badassery of the original ... that is, according to co-writer Michael Brandt.

In an interview with Cine Fools, Brandt talks about the new Bev Cop 4 and the different drafts they've gone through, as well as how one of his older scripts, Dying Day, was re-tooled to ultimately become Beverly Hills Cop 4. On that original script, Brandt notes, "It was kind of a buddy cop thing set in LA with buddy FBI agents- but it wasn't jokey at all, it was pretty hardcore. Everybody died in the end and it was the kind of movie/script that everybody who read it really liked but nobody was ever going to make.. Too dark. And [Paramount] said they would like to turn Dying Day into Beverly Hills Cop 4." Everyone dies? Really? Does that mean Axel Foley may finally meet his demise?

Brandt does say that since then they've "gotten farther and farther away from our original script," and these days I can't see a studio killing off a franchise character just in case Eddie Murphy can still play Axel when he's 90. So don't freak out yet. Good news is the sequel will play it rough and dirty, and so long as Ratner doesn't completely muck it up, this is one R-rated cop flick I'm really looking forward to. You?

Uh, my name is Johnny Wish-Wishbone. Johnny Wishbone. And I am a psychic from the island of St. Croix. Yes, I am psychic from the island of St. Croix .. and you can follow me on Twitter.

[via Moviehole]

I guess when two out of three films in a franchise are an absolute blast to watch, you kinda try to get behind the odds that a fourth installment will fall somewhere in the middle between awesome and please don't let me see that again ... ever. After watching Beverly Hills Cop 3, I almost filed a police report convinced the filmmakers had committed some sort of crime against humanity. Now, with the next one, you'd think folks would have learned from earlier mistakes. Well, the fact that Brett Ratner is directing hasn't exactly bolstered anticipation -- but maybe the script is good ...

Speaking of, Latino Review managed to snag a draft of Beverly Hills Cop 4 (one they claim "the studio loves, but Eddie Murphy is not too keen on"), and they've slapped a C+ grade on it. Based on their description (which includes spoilers, so watch out), the flick looks to be a combination of the original Beverly Hills Cop and Hitch, with Axel Foley (Murphy) trying to figure out who killed one of his friends, all while helping his new, fat partner score with some girl he has a crush on. LR says it's a "pretty standard police corruption story", and it feels "like the writers took an Arnold Schwarzenegger script they had lying around and changed the details to make it a Beverly Hills Cop movie. There's no fun in it."

Good news is the script will probably change before a final product is shoveled into theaters. What do you think a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie needs in order to be successful with fans of the series?

Seems our site, along with practically everyone else online, was a bit premature in declaring Brett Ratner director of the new Conan reboot. The original Hollywood Reporter article is what first threw folks off, since it claimed Ratner was committed to Conan, then changed their tune to say he's simply in "final negotiations." But even so, there's still a long way to go on the project, which, right now, is in the early stages of development. On whether or not Ratner will actually sign on, producer Avi Lerner (who sent out the original press release announcing Ratner's involvement) told The Los Angeles Times that they "still have a few obstacles. Brett is only committed if we agree on a budget, on how to do the special effects and exactly where we'd shoot the film."

Ratner, on the other hand, is pretty peeved news leaked out this early in the game. He says, "Let me make this very clear: I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I'm doing Beverly Hills Cop first, no matter what. Avi shouldn't be telling you or anyone else in the press what I'm doing." Talk about getting off on the right foot.

Meanwhile, in happy-go-lucky land, Lerner says they're "looking for a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger" for the part of Conan; someone they "could sign to a three-or-four-picture deal." As to whether the Governor would take a role, Lerner claims he offered Ahnold $1 million to do a one-day cameo, but didn't get a 'yes' just yet. Schwarzenegger did say to "Wait two years for me -- I'll be coming back." Well, I guess we know who'll be showing up in the next Terminator flick, right?

Brett Ratner seems like a perfect fit for Beverly Hills Cop 4: a director nobody likes making a sequel nobody wants. It was announced back in May that he was taking on the project, with Eddie Murphy and an R-rated approach intact despite rumors to the contrary on both counts. But now, with a BHC 4 script still unfinished, Ratner is looking at something to work on in the meantime -- a reboot of Conan the Barbarian.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ratner is thisclose to signing a deal to direct a hard-R-rated Conan, with a 2010 release in mind. The screenplay is by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, who also wrote Sahara and A Sound of Thunder and based their Conan script on the original stories from the 1930s. (Yes, that's when Conan was created. No, he wasn't an ancient mythological character.) THR notes that Oppenheimer and Donnelly are "doing a quick polish" of their work "to incorporate some of Ratner's ideas." That doesn't bode well -- but then again, neither does hiring the guys who wrote Sahara and A Sound of Thunder.

On the other hand, the original Conan stories weren't exactly high literature. They were pulpy, cheesy, and goofy. The first Conan movie, Conan the Barbarian, which helped launch the career of a certain U.S. governor, wasn't very faithful to those stories, but it was successful in its own right. The sequel, Conan the Destroyer, was jokier and went for a softer rating, thus dooming the franchise after only two entries. A loud, explosive, over-the-top, ridiculous reboot might be just what the character needs -- in which case Ratner is definitely the man for the job.

Oh, and Ratner still intends to direct BHC 4, too, only now it will be after Conan. That means for the next couple years, Ratner will be too busy to interfere with anymore superhero franchises, which will help a lot of comic-book geeks sleep easier.

Love him or hate him, you've got to hand it to Brett Ratner for keeping his career in motion. Variety brings word that the hustling filmmaker plans to take his Rat Entertainment company from New Line, where it first settled in 1996, to a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures. Ratner says the departure of New Line execs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne in February convinced him it was time to move on. At Paramount, Ratner will probably get bigger budgets and executives more receptive to his blockbuster-ready concepts. Stating the obvious, Ratner told Variety he "will not be pitching art films. I want to make major tentpole movies." You don't say?

Unless you're Scott Foundas, you probably balk at the idea of more Ratner movies populating the mainstream film scene, but the guy does fit the proper archetype of the classic Hollywood powerhouse. A modern day Sammy Glick, he knows how to make movies that bring out the audiences, whether or not they're any good. But maybe that determination means that, one day, Ratner will make a lot of great movies. His planned Hugh Hefner biopic sounds promising -- or at least, appropriate.

Still, that's a little ways off. Encouraged by his experience with X-Men: The Last Stand, Ratner decided he wanted to work on a new superhero franchise, so he's adapting Valiant Comics' Harbinger. Also in his queue: Beverly Hills Cop 4, The Incredible Shrinking Man and The Boys From Brazil. Do these projects get anyone excited? Anyone at all?

I wasn't entirely thrilled with the news that Brett Ratner was bringing Axel Foley back to the screen with Beverly Hills Cop IV. But the news that it would be made kid friendly just completely killed it, along with the statement: "10-year-old kids, 12-year-old kids don't really know the old Beverly Hills Cop. So it's an opportunity to make it new for kids." How thoughtful. I'm sure the tykes were sitting there, realizing that something was missing from their lives ... Norbit as a cop! That's it!

Anyhow, it looks like Sam might be getting his wish, and that Eddie Murphy wasn't thrilled with the sequel idea either. He spoke to ExtraTV, and said he's planning to leave the movie biz after the release of his latest film, Meet Dave. Now that doesn't mean it'll be Eddie's last (he's also got flicks like A Thousand Words on the way), but it does look like Dave will inspire a big, finite wave to the movie industry so that Murphy can "go back to the stage and do standup."

So, what about BHC? He said he didn't want to do it because "the movie wasn't ready to be done." On Bev III, Murphy noted: "They said, 'this is how much we're going to pay you.' I said, 'let's go shoot it! I don't care if the script ain't right.'" Some sites are taking his first statement to mean he's out, while others think he is still in and itching to do it. If he really is retiring, then he's definitely out, and Ratner will have to find a new Foley, or give up the project. Let's hope he's done and it's the latter.

UPDATE: Latino Review spoke to Ratner recently who debunked the "it's for kids" rumors, saying "Dont believe everything you read on the internet. Believe me, this is going to be a hard core 'R' Beverly Hills Cop. I start shooting next year" So ... is Eddie in or he is out?

Ed Note: Corrected the quote since it's clear he was talking Bev III and not IV.

I'm just burning doin' the neutron dance ...

Iron Man 2: Though they're still ironing out all the deals and what have you, Terrence Howard told Military.com that Iron Man 2 is set to begin production in March of 2009. This gives everyone involved a little less than a year to get in shape, finish a script and ... do all those things that Hollywood people do prior to shooting a film. The current release date for Iron Man 2 is April 30, 2010, which will be followed by a live-action Thor movie a month or so later on June 4, 2010. According to an earlier report, Marvel Entertainment will not release a film in 2009.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen: Ever since the full, official title was announced for Transformers 2, fan sites across the globe have jumped at the chance to decipher some sort of hidden agenda. Does the title reference the return of those robots destroyed in the first film? Is it a reference to an actual Transformer named Fallen, a Generation 1 Transformer who looks to be on fire based on images from the Transformers Wiki. The character is referred to as Fallen and The Fallen, which makes it seem as if the title would read Revenge of The Fallen or Revenge of Fallen if it were indeed talking about this particular character. Or (and this is my theory), the entire title is made up of different robots. 'Revenge' could be the nastiest one, followed by its assistants 'of' and 'the', and then 'Fallen'. Whaddya think?

Additionally, TransformersLive has images of the Smithsonian set and what appears to be a photo of the Transformer Jetfire. Slashfilm also has an extensive report on future shooting and new robots. So much for Michael Bay keeping this one top secret, huh?

Update: Devin from Chud pointed out to me that his sources are saying the title does, in fact, reference the character The Fallen.

After the jump: Axel Foley? Whatchu doin' in a family-friendly sequel?

... And you thought the announcement of Beverly Hills Cop IV meant Eddie Murphy was returning to his old potty mouth days. Well, think again, movie fans. The director who ruined the X-Men franchise and the studio that nearly ruined the Indiana Jones franchise is about to ruin the Beverly Hills Cop franchise. Unless the third one already did that (I actually skipped it, so I'm unsure). Brett Ratner, who is signed on to helm the return of Axel Foley (Murphy), told MTV Movies Blog the following bit of sacrilege: "10-year-old kids, 12-year-old kids don't really know the old 'Beverly Hills Cop.' So it's an opportunity to make it new for kids. The same way it felt for me watching 'Beverly Hills Cop' when I was a kid, that's what I want to do for kids today."

Except that when you were a kid, Brett, a movie like Beverly Hills Cop could be made and marketed for all ages despite its R rating. Plus you were 15 when the original came out. Not 10 or 12. Me, I was 7, and I saw it in the theater. And I saw the second one, also R-rated, in the theater at the age of 10. So, I understand that it's fine to let the wee ones see them. But, realistically, you can't make another R-rated BHC and publicly say it's for kids nor can you make a PG or PG-13 BHC and expect it to be anything like it was for you.

Wasn't there a prophecy of Nostradamus about this? Someone go look.

Variety announced that, inspired by the success of Indiana Jones IV, Paramount has green-lit a fourth installment of Beverley Hills Cop. Eddie Murphy will return to play Axel Foley. Brett Ratner will direct. (I hear the cries of "doom!" from the Internet.) The movie is set to begin filming next year, with a 2010 release.

Murphy's actually the brainchild behind the idea -- and with the way his public image has fallen, it's no wonder he would love a return to the role that made him a megastar. Now we know what he was doing over the holiday weekend! Watching everything from Lethal Weapon 4 to Crystal Skull, saying "I could do that ... again!" (Or perhaps it was to redeem the title from Beverly Hills Chihuahua.)