Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop 4” finds directors

PanARMENIAN.Net - Paramount has signed Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to direct Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop 4” — more than two decades after the third film was released.

Jerry Bruckheimer is producing as he did on the first two “Beverly Hills Cop” films, which were released in 1984 and 1987. “Beverly Hills Cop III” was released in 1994. The three films grossed a combined $735 million worldwide with the first taking in $316 million.

The hiring of El Arbi and Fallah — directors of the award-winning drama “Black” — comes more than a year after Paramount had pulled the fourth installment of the franchise out of its March 25, 2016, release date. Paramount had announced in May, 2014, that the fourth film was scheduled for a 2016 release.

At that point, Brett Ratner had been attached to direct from a script by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) with a story centering around Murphy’s Axel Foley character returning to his native Detroit during the coldest winter on record.

“Black” won the Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival last year. It centers on a 15-year-old girl in a gang in Brussels who must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang. Martha Canga Antonio and Aboubakr Bensaihi starred.

Variety‘s Peter Debruge called “Black” a “powerhouse” and said in his review: “The first of its kind in Belgian cinema, this easily exportable, minority-driven drama has the potential to launch the careers of its young directors and cast, driving its star-crossed ‘West Side Story’ formula into the 21st century.”

El Arbi and Fallah are both of Moroccan heritage who directed the short film “Broeders” and the feature “Image.”

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.