Beverly Hills Cop 4 Moves Closer, Directors Found

Beverly Hills Cop was among the most successful films of the 1980s, and it helped make Eddie Murphy one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Two sequels followed, and a fourth movie has been in various stages of development for two decades. It now seems as though Beverly Hills Cop 4 is getting closer to happening, with the news that its directors have been hired.

According to Deadline, Murphy and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have settled on rising Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to helm the film. The pair scored a major critical success last year with their drama Black, which won the Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival. The site states that both Murphy and Bruckheimer were impressed by Black, and approached El Arbi and Fallah to work on Beverly Hills Cop 4.

Deadline reports that the filmmakers are hoping to start production on the movie later this year or in early 2017.

Beverly Hills Cop 4 was originally announced in the mid-90s, and then again a decade later, with Rush Hour's Brett Ratner initially lined up to direct. The most recent attempt to revitalise the action comedy franchise was for television. A pilot focusing on Murphy's character's son was produced for CBS in 2013, but the network chose not to pick up the show.