As the franchise gears up to return to the screen, Jonathan Banks gets candid about the Beverly Hills Cop sequels. The then-future Better Call Saul actor starred in the 1984 Eddie Murphy action comedy as Zack, a bodyguard for the villainous Victor Maitland who sets off Axel Foley’s journey to California by murdering his childhood friend. Following the movie’s critical and commercial success, it launched into a franchise that included two sequels in 1987 and ’94, both of which garnered progressively worse reviews from critics and lower box office returns.
During a recent interview with Screen Rant for the Apple TV+ premiere of Constellation, Banks was asked about his thoughts on his Beverly Hills Cop experience and the franchise’s subsequent sequels. After praising director Martin Brest for his work making a “really good film” in the original, the six-time Emmy nominee candidly revealed he’s not watched any of the follow-ups, admitting to knowing they would be bad and that part of what made the first one work was its originality. Check out what Banks said below:
I’ve never seen 2, I’ve never seen Beverly Hills Cop 2, I’ve never seen Beverly Hills Cop 3. Marty Brest directed a really good film in Beverly Hills Cop 1. I got dead and that was it for me. And, you know, I knew that [3 was bad]. We could talk about all these remakes that they make, and I’m telling you, somebody needs to — I’ll give you an idea, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, who brought that book out to make a film out of it, you know? Yes, it’s a wonderful book, but I think there are probably a lot of gems out there that haven’t been discovered, and it’s easier to make Superman 32, you know?
Will Beverly Hills Cop 4 Break The Franchise’s Unfortunate Streak?
Having grossed over $316 million at the worldwide box office to become the highest-grossing movie of 1984, it’s understandable that the original Beverly Hills Cop spawned an entire franchise of sequels. While the first of the follow-ups, helmed by Top Gun‘s Tony Scott, nearly matched the original’s financial haul, it saw a major drop with critics, sitting at a 46% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, nearly half of its predecessor’s 83% rating. The threequel fared even worse, sitting at an 11% rating and only narrowly surpassing the $119 million mark at the box office.
With the franchise finally coming back in the form of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, it’s unclear if it will live up to the original, but the attention is on whether it can finally beat the streak of negative reviews. Murphy has been particularly vocal about his dissatisfaction with the third movie, with attempts at a fourth movie failing because he was similarly never satisfied with their approaches. The star did put his support behind a TV spinoff with Axel’s son as the lead, but his disinterest in a regular role led to a clash with CBS and it never getting past the pilot stage.
By having Murphy back in the lead and clearly enthusiastic to reprise his role for the new movie, it does seem possible that the Beverly Hills Cop franchise may finally get back on track. It’s unclear if this will lead to further expansions of the series or remain as a one-off, but given the Bad Boys franchise found new success with For Life and a fourth movie in the works, Axel F could very well be the start of something new should it prove to be a success. Even if it doesn’t, franchise fans can at least hope it breaks the Beverly Hills Cop‘s negative sequel streak.
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is an action-comedy movie franchise that stars Eddie Murphy as a Detroit cop named Axel Foley who heads to Beverly Hills, California, to investigate the death of his best friend. Foley, a street-smart and intense officer, is constantly observed and (sometimes) reigned in with the help of Billy Rosewood and John Taggart, two other detectives from his department. A fourth film titled Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley
- Created by
- Danilo Bach , Daniel Petrie, Jr.
- First Film
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Cast
- Eddie Murphy , Judge Reinhold , John Ashton , Jurgen Prochnow , Brigitte Nielsen , Hector Elizondo , Allen Garfield
- Character(s)
- Axel Foley , Billy Rosewood , John Taggart , Harold Lutz , Maxwell Dent , Karla Fry , Jon Flint
