Eddie Murphy Brings ‘80s to Modern Day with New ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Film 

Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy attend the World premiere of "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, US June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy attend the World premiere of "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, US June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Eddie Murphy Brings ‘80s to Modern Day with New ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Film 

Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy attend the World premiere of "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, US June 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy attend the World premiere of "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, US June 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Thirty years since his third and last outing, Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop" Axel Foley is back on another investigation.

New Netflix film "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" sees the rule-breaking police officer return to Beverly Hills when he discovers his estranged, public defender daughter Jane (Taylour Paige) is in danger after her investigation into a murder uncovers corruption in the Beverly Hills Police Department.

Murphy, who is joined by fellow original cast members Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, premiered the film on Thursday, fittingly across the road from the real Beverly Hills Police Department, where much of the action is set.

However, this red carpet - where Murphy was joined by actor Martin Lawrence, musician Lil Nas X and others - was a far cry from the first screening of the original 1984 film.

"The first premiere was... an industry screening I went to and it didn't go well with the audience... Then I went to see it with a real audience and then I saw the real reaction to it," Murphy said.

"Beverly Hills Cop" went on to gross over $300 million worldwide and became an iconic '80s movie. Two other films followed in 1987 and 1994.

"This is a big part of people's lives... it was a hit and everybody loved it but it was more than that. They kind of warmed to it," said actor Paul Reiser, who reprises his role as Jeffrey Friedman.

"It's like comfort food. It's like we love that movie, we grew up on that movie."

The new movie also refers to the 1980s, director Mark Molloy said.

"I looked at those first two films and I was like, I want to make a film like that," he said.

"I wanted to ground it and make it humble and also I wanted to shoot everything in camera, make some mistakes. Those films are imperfect... and I wanted to embrace that and create a film that felt very nostalgic but was in the contemporary world."

The film, which begins streaming on July 3, also stars Kevin Bacon as a sinister senior cop and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Foley's new sidekick.

"I'm happy the movie worked out right and that it's super-audience friendly," Murphy said.

"It's always great when you do a good movie."



'Barbie' Director Gerwig Honored by 'Terrifying' Movie Industry

Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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'Barbie' Director Gerwig Honored by 'Terrifying' Movie Industry

Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"Barbie" director Greta Gerwig paid tribute to risk-takers in the "terrifying" entertainment industry as she was honored for her pioneering filmmaking at a prestigious Hollywood gala on Wednesday.
Gerwig, 41, is the first-ever female director to make a $1 billion movie, and all three of her solo directorial movies to date -- "Lady Bird,Little Women" and "Barbie" -- have been nominated for best picture at the Oscars.
"A showperson is the only person I've ever wanted to be," she said, as she was named Pioneer of the Year at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala in Beverly Hills, AFP said.
"I wanted to be one of those people who are a little bit wild, a little bit on the edge and filled with a kind of joyful madness.
"I think pioneer is the right word."
Gerwig's most recent artistic gamble paid off as her $1.4 billion-grossing feminist satire "Barbie" became the top-grossing movie of 2023.
Improbably based on the popular doll franchise, but given unusual creative license, the film's success came at a crucial time for an increasingly risk-averse industry reeling from the pandemic, strikes and swingeing job cuts.
The film, alongside Christopher Nolan's Oscar-sweeping "Oppenheimer," was widely credited with keeping the movie theater industry afloat last year.
Gerwig is reportedly set to write and direct two Netflix film adaptations of C.S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia."
"There are easier ways to make money, and there are less terrifying businesses, but there are none that are more exciting and filled with as much joy and wonder," she said.
Wednesday's Pioneer of the Year gala raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness.