Netflix's fight with Disney, HBO leads Eddie Murphy's 'Cop' to streamer
After years of delays, "Beverly Hills Cop" is finally going back on patrol, but this time he'll be operating out of a new precinct — Netflix.
Like the first three movies, "Beverly Hills Cop 4" will star Eddie Murphy. But unlike the original films, they will not be in released theatrically where they made more than $700 million combined for Paramount Pictures. The Viacom-owned studio opted to move the long-in-development sequel to the streaming service in a one-time licensing deal, but is indicative of a growing relationship between Paramount and Netflix.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 557.31 | +2.19 | +0.39% |
| T | AT&T INC. | 16.59 | -0.22 | -1.32% |
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 111.61 | -2.33 | -2.05% |
With competitors Disney+ and HBOMax — a unit of AT&T's WarnerMedia — keeping feature films produced by their studios on their own streaming services, Netflix has seen its film library begin to thin out. In addition to some series, Netflix and Paramount have teamed up on a sequel to "Cloverfield" called "The Cloverfield Project," the horror film “Eli” and sci-fi drama “Annihilation.”
In addition, Netflix has a developing relationship with Eddie Murphy. The former "Saturday Night Live" star recently signed a deal to bring his legendary stand-up comedy to Netflix. This comes on the heels of Netflix premiering a Murphy pet project last month, "Dolemite Is My Name" a dramedy about real-life rap pioneer turned black exploitation film star.
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Murphy's journey to bring "Beverly Hills Cop" back to any size screen has been a struggle. In 2013, CBS announced with great fanfare a "Beverly Hills Cop" weekly TV series. A pilot was shot but things feel apart.
“I was gonna be in the pilot, and they thought I should be recurring," Murphy said in an interview with Playboy. "I’m not gonna do 'Beverly Hills Cop' on TV.”
The executive producer of the series, Shawn Ryan -- who is best known for creating "The Shield" -- took to Twitter back then to put a spin on the failed pilot.
Shortly thereafter a new "BHC" film was put into development and was scheduled to be released in March of 2016. But in 2015, Paramount announced it was pulling the sequel from its schedule of movies. The sequel vanished into the netherworld of Hollywood known as development until today's Netflix announcement.
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Murphy is slated to return to the silver screen in another sequel to one of his classic films, "Coming to America." Murphy will reprise his role as Prince Akeem, the spoiled "fish out of water" African royal heir who comes to the U.S. The comedy is slated to open in December of 2020.
