When will Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F be released?
*hums Axel Foley theme tune*
After plenty of false starts, almost-sequels and a ditched TV series, Eddie Murphy finally returns to the force in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, AKA Beverly Hills Cop 4.
To say that this one has been a long time coming is a bit of an understatement. Chatter about a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie originally began in the late 1990s and has seen various names attached to its development in the years since.
Rush Hour director Brett Ratner came close to bringing the project to life in the early noughties before things fell apart and gears shifted into producing a Beverly Hills Cop TV series instead.
This small-screen adaptation would’ve featured Murphy but focused primarily on Foley’s on-screen son — but this take ultimately ground to a halt.
A few false starts later, a newly retooled Beverly Hills Cop 4 is finally due to land on Netflix in July under the new title Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
What else do we know about it? Read on for its full rap sheet.
When will Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F be released?
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will be released on Netflix on Wednesday, 3 July — three decades after the previous entry in the series, Beverly Hills Cop III.
After extensive delays, filming took place in California and Detroit in 2022 with Australian filmmaker Mark Molloy at the helm.
Malloy replaced directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who left the project after coming close to directing it themselves in order to focus on their Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. and DC Films, a project that was ultimately indefinitely shelved.
Is there a trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F?
The official trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is available to watch now. In it, we get a more detailed look at Axel Foley’s latest mission and the series of events that have led him back to Los Angeles.
We also see some of the series familiar faces back in action, including Paul Reiser’s Det. Jeffrey Friedman, Bronson Pinchot’s Serge, John Ashton’s Sgt. John Taggart and Judge Reinhold’s Lt. Billy Rosewood.
Watch it below:
The first teaser trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F arrived in December 2023 and provided our first, action-packed glimpse at Murphy’s return to one of his most beloved movie roles.
The emphasis lays heavily on the ‘action-packed’ element too, as this short teaser provided a heady dose of car chases, crashes, gunshots and explosions, suggesting that the movie may be Foley’s most explosive outing yet.
Watch it below:
What is the plot of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F?
As the first Beverly Hills Cop movie to be released since John Landis’ 1994 threequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is set to reunite the cop with some familiar colleagues and new faces as he tackles a brand new case.
As per Netflix, “Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.”
According to Empire, the movie will focus on “Foley’s criminal defense attorney daughter (Taylour Paige), who pulls her dad into a California-based case — where he’ll cause issues for Kevin Bacon’s LAPD special-unit officer, and team up with a new partner, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.”
While little else is known about the film, long-time sequel producer Jerry Bruckheimer sad that we can expect Murphy to once again deliver some classic Beverly Hills Cop vibes.
“Anytime he walks on set, you never know what you’re going to get. And it’s always pretty brilliant,” he told the outlet. “Every day he’s there throws you back to the ‘80s.”
Action aside, he also promised that the film will be unexpectedly heartfelt: “It’s about the emotion,” he added. “No matter how funny it is, how much great action it has, it’s all about the heartstrings.”
Who is starring in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F?
Murphy will return as Axel Foley, complete with his iconic Detroit Lions jacket.
He’ll be joined by Boogie actress Taylour Paige as his daughter and Kevin Bacon as an LAPD special-units officer that he must face off against.
Foley will also get a new partner for his latest case played by Joseph Gordon Levitt. "He gets stuck with Axel and they are hysterical together,” explains Bruckheimer of the pairing. “Joseph is such a great straight man for Eddie.”
Fans of the original trilogy will be pleased to learn that Reinhold’s Lt. Billy Rosewood and Reiser’s Det. Jeffrey Friedman will also be back, alongside Ashton’s Sgt. John Taggart and Pinchot as the French art dealer-turned-weapons expert Serge.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will be released on Netflix on Wednesday, 3 July.
