It's been 29 years since Eddie Murphy last donned his iconic Detroit Lions jacket as Axel Foley, and in 2024 he is finally set to reprise the role in the aptly titled sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. The long-awaited sequel faced a bumpy road before it finally hit cameras. In fact, the project was stuck in development hell for well over two decades, multiple script rewrites were ordered, multiple directors came and went, and Murphy himself stepped away from the spotlight before staging a comeback back in 2019. Despite all the production hiccups that occurred, the film has been shot and is currently in post-production, and will be gracing the screens in the not-too-far future. Here's your guide to everything you need to know about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on May 23, 2024.

Does 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Have a Release Date?

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on July 3, 2024, just in time for Independence Day. The film comes nearly four decades after the release of the original movie. To be exact, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will arrive exactly 14,455 days after the release of the original movie and 10,998 days after the release of Beverly Hills Cop III.

The film was previously scheduled to be released by Paramount Pictures on March 25, 2016 (the same day as Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice), but was pulled from the release schedule in 2015.

Netflix is no stranger to having a big new release for the week of Independence Day. For example, Stranger Things Season 3 and Season 4 Part 2 were both released on that very week, so the streaming service clearly has a lot of confidence in the Eddie Murphy-led sequel.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is part of an extensive slate of movies heading to Netflix this summer which also includes Richard Linklater and Glen Powell's crime-comedy Hit Man, the Jennifer Lopez sci-fi action flick Atlas, and the action comedy The Union starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry.

Will 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Be Coming to Theaters or Streaming?

While the first three films in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise were distributed by Paramount and were released theatrically, the latest installment is instead being backed by Netflix, thanks to a deal that was struck between the studio and the streamer all the way back in 2019. While Netflix is no stranger to giving some of its bigger titles a limited theatrical release (just look at Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), it appears that Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will be released directly to the streaming service.

Is There a Trailer for 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'?

The first teaser trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F was released by Netflix on December 14, 2023. Set to Harold Faltermeyer's iconic theme song "Axel F," the preview doesn't reveal too much about the plot, but does give us our first look at the returning cast as well as the new characters.

The full trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F was released by Netflix on May 23, 2024. Set to a remixed version of Patti LaBelle's "Stir It Up" (which was prominently featured in the original movie) and "Axel F," the two-and-a-half minute preview gives a more in-depth look at the plot of the movie, as our favorite Detroit Cop is called back into action in Beverly Hills. The

Netflix released a sneak peek of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F on April 2023, featuring Detroit Lions' Quarterback Jared Goff comparing himself to Axel Foley, while wearing the character's iconic jacket.

Who's In the Cast of 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'?

Could there really be a Beverly Hills Cop sequel without Eddie Murphy? The short and simple answer is no. Murphy will once again be reprising his role as the wise-cracking Detroit cop Axel Foley in the film. This will be the iconic comedian's fourth time playing the role (fifth if we're including the unaired pilot for a TV series in 2013). Outside the Beverly Hills Cop films and his legendary stand-up career, Murphy is known for voicing Donkey in the Shrek franchise, as well as for the films Coming to America, The Nutty Professor, Trading Places, Dr. Dolittle, Bowfinger, Harlem Nights, 48 Hrs, Boomerang, and Dreamgirls (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role). After stepping out of the limelight after the poor performance of his 2012 comedy A Thousand Words, Murphy starred in the indie film Mr. Church in 2016, before going on to star as Rudy Ray Moore in the biopic Dolemite Is My Name in 2019. Since then, Murphy has also gone on to star in Coming 2 America, You People, and Candy Cane Lane. Next up for Murphy is the action-heist-comedy The Pickup where he stars alongside Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer.

Murphy had talked about his hesitancy in doing a sequel back in 2015, but once Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer behind the original three films, came back on board, he was excited to hop back in, telling Collider's Steve Weintraub:

"Jerry Bruckheimer, the original producer. When he got involved, and he started developing the script, and he knew what Beverly Hills Cop was supposed to be. When he got back involved, that's when it all started to come together. Because we tried for years and years, maybe 10, 12 years, and I must have read five or six different scripts, and it was never right. The studio was like, 'Let's go. Here it is.' It was like, 'It’s just not it.' Jerry Bruckheimer got back in there, and he knows his shit, and he put it together. He did [Top Gun: Maverick] just last year, and Bad Boys is Jerry Bruckheimer. So we have that same brain behind Beverly Hills Cop, and he put all the pieces in place that were required for us to make a great movie. And I'm excited for people to see it.”

Mark Molloy, the director of the sequel, praised his experience working with Murphy on the set of the movie, saying in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

"You've got one of the greatest comedians, if not in my eyes, the greatest comedian in the world. A huge part of my job is to create a space for improvisation to thrive. I always want to get what's on the page, but when you have someone like Eddie Murphy, you want to let him be free."

Murphy isn't the only returning cast member either as it has been confirmed that Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, John Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot will all be reprising their roles as Billy Rosewood, Jeffery Friedman, John Taggart, and Surge. While Reinhold, Ashton, and Pinchot appeared with Murphy in all three films, Reiser sat out of the third film, so his return comes as a surprise to some. Franchise newcomers include Taylour Paige (Zola), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception), and Kevin Bacon (Footloose). Paige will star as Foley's estranged daughter Jane Saunders, a criminal defense attorney, Gordon-Levitt will be playing Foley's new partner, Bobby Abbott, and Bacon will play Grant, the captain of the Beverly Hills Police Department. Luis Guzmán (Wednesday) will also be part of the cast in an undisclosed role.

Gordon-Levitt teased how his character will interact with Axel in an interview with Empire, saying:

“This character is a bit strait-laced – I am an actual Beverly Hills cop, whereas Axel Foley is a cop from Detroit who finds himself in Beverly Hills – but he’s not a simple straight man,”

What Will 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Be About?

The official synopsis for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, reads:

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.

Bruckheimer revealed in an interview with Netflix's Tudum, that the changes in the last three decades of the central cities in the franchise, Detroit and Los Angeles, will play a big role in the film, saying:

"Detroit is a much different city than Los Angeles and especially Beverly Hills. He still has the same kind of wonderment at the things you see walking down Rodeo Drive."

The film's director, Mark Molloy, added:

“As we were scouting going from Detroit to Beverly Hills, the cultural contrast that made Axel a fish out of water in the eighties still is so vivid. They might just be the two most opposite places in America.”

Who Is Making 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'?

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will be directed by Mark Molloy, who is making his directorial debut with the film. Molloy may be a new name in the world of feature films, but he has had quite a successful career in the world of commercials, having directed advertisements for Apple, Go Daddy, and Nissan. Molloy isn't the first director to become attached to the project as other filmmakers such as Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), and Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life) were previously attached to the film.

Murphy is also producing the film alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Chad Oman, and Melissa Reid. Bruckheimer is one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood history, aside from having produced the previous installments in Beverly Hills Cop, Bruckheimer has also produced blockbuster franchises such as Top Gun, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bad Boys, and National Treasure. The script comes from Will Beall, a former LAPD officer and the screenwriter behind Aquaman and Gangster Squad, as well as The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent screenwriters Tom Gormicon and Kevin Etten.

When and Where Did 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Film?

After years of languishing in development hell, filming for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F finally commenced in August 2022 in San Bernardino, California, with additional filming taking place in Detroit, Michigan. Filming eventually wrapped in early 2023.

What Will 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' Be Rated?

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has officially been rated R by the MPA for "language throughout, violence and brief drug use." It shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the previous three films all received that same rating. For a little bit, it did seem possible for the fourth film to veer for a lighter rating, especially after Coming 2 America, the sequel to the R-rated Coming To America was slapped with a more family-friendly PG-13 rating.