Eddie Murphy and Paramount may have found an old friend to help guide the ship on the latest installment in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise.
Sources tell Variety that Jerry Bruckheimer is in talks to come back on as a producer of “Beverly Hills Cop 4″ after producing the first two installments.
While the news may come as no surprise, since Bruckheimer and his late producing partner Don Simpson produced the first two installments, Bruckheimer did not participate in the third installment.
Paramount and his reps had no comment.
Par and Murphy have been trying to get the project off the ground for some time, with Brett Ratner throwing his name into the ring to direct at one point.
Murphy and producer Shawn Ryan looked to have a shot at receiving a pickup for the “Beverly Hills Cop” TV pilot (a project Bruckheimer did not want a part in), but CBS balked, leading Murphy to go back to the studio with an idea for a new feature installment that “Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol” scribes Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec would write.
Bruckheimer’s return signals that Paramount is serious about getting the project off the ground this time.
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Since “The Lone Ranger’s” box office failure, Bruckheimer had an incentive to get busy on past franchises. Besides “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” sources tell Variety that Bruckheimer is helping to develop the script for “Bad Boys 3,” while he is still pursuing “Top Gun 2″ as long as deals with talent can close.
Though “Pirates of the Caribbean 5” has moved off the 2015 slate, he and star Johnny Depp still plan to release that sequel in the summer of 2016.
Bruckheimer currently has the Screen Gems pic “Beware the Night” in production, and once a deal closes, he will begin overseeing pre-production on “Beverly Hills Cop 4.” He is repped by CAA.
