Beverly Hills Cop 4 is yet to arrive on Netflix, but Eddie Murphy and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are already gearing up for a fifth installment. The duo must feel very confident that the upcoming movie will perform well on the streaming site despite previous films’ lackluster outcomes.
One of the most popular buddy cop action comedy films of the ‘80s, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise had experienced diminishing profit as well as critical reviews, although the fourth installment is yet to show how it will fare in terms of viewership.
Eddie Murphy Teases Beverly Hills Cop 5 Ahead Of Fourth Movie’s Release
Eddie Murphy is excited for fans to see his return in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F thirty years since the third film premiered at the theaters. He admitted feeling the jitters as to how it will be received by the audience via Variety:
A lot of times at industry screenings they don’t laugh. I thought the movie was going to be horrible. I was with John Landis, and he was like, ‘No, it was great.’ I thought they hated it. Then I went and saw it with a real audience, and then I saw the real reaction to it.
The actor confessed that the first time was scary, but when asked about his plans to continue making more Beverly Hills Cop movies, he said, “They’re developing it. If it comes together, we’ll be doing another one.” With this announcement, they are charging ahead blindly.
The fourth movie is yet to premiere, but there are already plans for a fifth one. Even producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed, “We have a couple of stories in mind.” Perhaps it’s more practical to check on the performance of the upcoming project before diving straight into another one.
Secondly, the decision is also risky due to the history of the previous films. It did not get any better as evident in their Rotten Tomatoes scores. The 1984 movie received an impressive 83%, but the 1987 one only earned 46%. It also did not help that the 1994 film got an embarrassing 11% rating.
Where Did Beverly Hills Cop 3 Go Wrong?
Eddie Murphy knew exactly why the third movie failed and revealed Beverly Hills Cop 4 will fix it. The Oscar-nominated star said via Late Night with Seth Meyers:
One of the things that makes Beverly Hills Cop work is the first two Beverly Hills Cops are really good, and the third one is a little soft. And it’s because we didn’t have a great villain.
The upcoming movie stars Kevin Bacon as Captain Grant, the central antagonist. “I don’t know what it is about leading men who do villain roles, he’s got this great, great villain,” Murphy added.
It remains to be seen how the sequel will turn up, though hopefully, it will perform better than its predecessors. However, given Murphy’s earlier statement, it might not be much of an obstacle if it flops or not, as they already have plans for Beverly Hills Cop 5.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F streams on Netflix this July 3.
