We just discovered from a very reliable source that among the ashes of Paramount Studios dropping the new film Beverly Hills Cop 4 from production status, we hear that there have been talks for them to reboot the franchise.
We discovered that Director Brett Ratner, who was on board to film Beverly Hills Cop 4 might be the man that Paramount will bring back to start the franchise all over again.
We also hear that if the franchise IS revamped, Paramount has a very short list of actors who they intend to play the new Axel Foley, and right now Brandon T. Jackson is among the very few who they like.
How did this develop you ask? Well, it seems that among the musical chairs that have been played over at Paramount the last couple of months, the new execs in charge of development and production did not like the negotiations that have been moving along with Eddie Murphy for Beverly Hills Cop 4. It turns out that now because of this the film is dead in the water. This was a result of negotiations between the studio and Murphy’s management, and it soured because Murphy’s demands were too high and Paramount felt that Murphy hasn’t opened up a number one film in years to command his salary ( which also includes several points on the gross and a percentage of the DVD sales). Paramount wanted Murphy to take a pay cut and after Murphy declined, the result was the new talks of revamping Beverly Hills Cop while Ratner is still potentially interested.
As we stated, Jackson is the studio favorite and their potential lead for the film, but we hear that this film is still in the extremely early stages and no offer has been made to anyone, nor has the script even been written.
Several points do arise from this story, such as Eddie Murphy doing the recent Press junket for Shrek 4 mentioning to several news outlets that he is coming back to the stage. Is this a move for Murphy to bring his comedic awareness back to the masses and to convince the studio that once that is done that he is still relevant? If you recall, when Murphy was the number 1 box office draw, he was also the number 1 comedian in the country on tour and breaking records for attendance. This move would make sense.
Up next for Murphy; we hear that a new script has been written and delivered for Nutty Professor 3, but there is still several other things to happen before the project is green lit for a production start date. Not to mention Murphy stated that he is preparing to hit the stage and make a comeback.
Brandon T. Jackson is currently in Atlanta filming Big Momma’s House 3 titled Big Momma’s: Like Father Like Son with Martin Lawrence, and he is getting offers for several other films, none of which can be confirmed yet.
More on this story as it develops.