It's one of those movies that has been in development for decades (literally, since the 1990s) and has seen a steady stream of filmmakers come and go. But the fourth Beverly Hills Cop, which currently resides at Netflix, has found another potential director in Mark Molloy.
The franchise, which originated with the first film at Paramount in 1984, helped make Eddie Murphy a huge movie star thanks to the breakout role of wise-cracking Detroit cop Axel Foley. That initial entry saw him travel from his home streets to the swanky boulevards of Beverly Hills, where he investigated the murder of a childhood friend.
That movie was followed by the successful Beverly Hills Cop II and the less-well-received third film. Paramount had been trying to make the fourth (with Murphy as a driving force) for years, but never quite saw it come together. The studio even tried a TV spin-off, with Brandon T. Jackson as Axel's son, Aaron, yet that didn't make it past pilot stage. In 2019, the rights were sold to Netflix.
Most recently, Bad Boys For Life co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were attached to make the movie, but they've since moved on to Batgirl as script issues held up the new Cop.
Molloy isn't a well-known name in movies – this would, in fact, be his feature directorial debut – but he's a respected ads director, working for clients including Apple and Nissan. Perhaps Netflix, with its eagerness to keep the film production line moving, will finally put Axel back on screen.