From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Beverly Hills Cop series
Directed by	Martin Brest (I) Tony Scott (II) John Landis (III)
Written by	Characters Daniel Petrie, Jr. Danilo Bach
Starring	Eddie Murphy Judge Reinhold John Ashton Ronny Cox
Music by	Harold Faltermeyer
Editing by	Billy Weber
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	1984-1994
Running time	310 mins. (approx)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85,500,000
Gross revenue	$735,534,503

Beverly Hills Cop is a series of Academy Award-nominated action-comedy films, with characters written by Daniel Petrie, Jr., Danilo Bach and starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, the latter who would not appear in Beverly Hills Cop III. Harold Faltermeyer produced the now famous Axel F theme song heard throughout the films. All the films in the series so far have been distributed by Paramount Pictures. To date, the films have made a total of $735,534,503 world wide. A fourth film in the series is reported to be in development.

Films

Overview

In Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley is introduced as a Detroit cop who, after the murder of his friend, travels to California to investigate and track down the killer, who he believes operate an arts dealership as a cover in Beverly Hills. He teams up with two reluctant detectives, Billy Rosewood and John Taggart, from the Beverly Hills police force who were supposed to keep a watch on him, especially after seeing Foley's different approach to tackling the situations which were considered unacceptable by the chief of the local police. In Beverly Hills Cop II, Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills, after finding out that Captain Andrew Bogomil was shot. He once again teams up with Detective Billy Rosewood and Sgt. John Taggart, who, reluctantly and against the police chief's orders, help Foley to find out the person responsible for Bogomil's shooting. Axel, Billy, and Taggart soon discover that the alphabet robberies, a series of robberies that have been going on in the area, are masterminded by weapons kingpin Maxwell Dent. With this information, Axel, Billy, and Taggart try to find Dent and Karla. In the 1994 sequel, Beverly Hills Cop III, Eddie Murphy's character, Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills once again. During an assignment, his boss, Inspector Todd gets killed, and certain evidence points towards an amusement park called "Wonderworld." Upon arriving in Beverly Hills, Axel looks up his old friend, Billy Rosewood who has attained the title of DDOJSIOC (Deputy Director of Joint Special Inter Operational Command). Taggart and Bogomil have retired and a new detective called Jon Flint (played by Hector Elizondo) is Rosewood's new partner.

Cast and characters

Development

Cast and characters

Music

There is a recurring instrumental theme throughout the film series called Axel F, which was composed by Harold Faltermeyer.^[1] The theme became popular with audiences, and has been remixed by Crazy Frog.^[2] A new version of the theme was heard in Beverly Hills Cop III, with Harold Faltermeyer not returning for the film.^[3]

Reception

Box office performance

Critical reaction

Awards

Beverly Hills Cop^[14]

• Academy Award
  • nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie, Jr.
• BAFTA Awards
  • Nominated for Best Score - Harold Faltermeyer
• Golden Globe
  • Nominated for Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy
  • Nominated for Best Actor Musical/Comedy - Eddie Murphy

Beverly Hills Cop II^[15]

• Academy Award
  • Nominated for Best Music, Original Song - Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey and Bob Seger

• Golden Globe Award
  • Nominated for Best Music, Original Song - Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey and Bob Seger

Future

A fourth Beverly Hills Cop film is in development. The first news arrived in 2006.^[16] Producer Jerry Bruckheimer had stated his intention to resurrect the franchise, but eventually gave up his option to produce the film. Lorenzo di Bonaventura was slated to produce the film.^[17] Several scripts had reportedly been produced, the latest a fusion of several of the previous versions. The film had officially been given a greenlight, and the film was said to be still in development.^[18] The latest news on the project was that Murphy was reportedly happy with the current outline, which was described as an attempt to recapture "the feel of the original".^[19] In May 2008, Brett Ratner was officially named director for the project. Also it was stated that there were no writers for the project as of yet, and that they were still looking. Eddie Murphy is set to reprise his role as Detective Axel Foley. It is unknown whether Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox or Bronson Pinchot will return to reprise their roles.^[20] Inspired by the success of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Paramount Pictures is said to be aiming for a 2009 production start, in time for a 2010 release.^[21]

Director Brett Ratner was reportedly hoping that the film would get a PG-13 rating.^[22] Ratner later dismissed the statement, insisting that the film would be getting the franchise's standard R rating.^[23] In a recent interview with Extra TV, Eddie Murphy expressed doubt in returning as Foley as "the movie wasn't ready to be done."^[24] However, in a later interview with MTV, Murphy stated he was not retiring and that he would be returning for the fourth installment. One reason he stated was that "the third Beverly Hills Cop was horrible!" and that he "didn't want to leave it like that".^[25][26] Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired as screenwriters for the film.^[27] Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F is reported to be returning for the fourth installment. Director Brett Ratner has been quoted as saying "It'll be back but it'll be a whole new interpretation." ^[28] In October 2009, Brett Ratner said that he was trying to persuade Judge Reinhold to return as well as John Ashton to reprise their roles in the previous films.^[29] According to Moviehole, Beverly Hills Cop 4 producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura will wipe the slate clean by completely ignoring the last two Beverly Hills Cop sequels, making a direct sequel to Eddie Murphy’s 1984 comedy classic. That means detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) will most likely return. According to reports, Reinhold is already confirmed for the new sequel, and Paramount Pictures is currently in talks with Ashton. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand) is attached to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4 with Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (3:10 to Yuma, Wanted) writing the script. The pair are adapting a script they wrote called Dying Day; a dark action film about two FBI field agents in LA who discover their entire unit is corrupt. The updated story will remain dark, while leaving room for Murphy to step in and funny it up. That’s similar to what he did in the original, when he worked from a script originally destined to become a Sylvester Stallone action film. Beverly Hills Cop 4 is currently scheduled to be released in 2012.^[30]

References

External links

• Beverly Hills Cop at the Internet Movie Database
• Beverly Hills Cop II at the Internet Movie Database
• Beverly Hills Cop III at the Internet Movie Database
• Beverly Hills Cop IV at the Internet Movie Database