Axel F director Mark Molloy reveals that producer Jerry Bruckheimer has never seen Beverly Hills Cop III: āI didnāt do it, so you donāt need to see it.ā
Barely doubling its sizeable $70m budget, Beverly Hills Cop III's box office takings suggested that audiences had thoroughly checked out of the franchise by 1994. And among the people who didnāt show up to watch the cop comedy thriller we can count Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first two films in the series.
Word of this comes from Mark Molloy, the commercials director who made his feature debut with belated sequel Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, streaming now on Netflix. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Molloy revealed that heās never seen the third film in the series, and had been advised not to bother watching it by producer Jerry Bruckheimer ā who hasnāt seen it either.
āWhen I came in, I said to Jerry, āI haven’t seen Beverly Hills Cop III,' Molloy told the outlet. āAnd he was like, āI didn’t do it, so you don’t need to see it.ā And I was like, āOK, cool, Jerry. I’m going to let it go then.'ā
Read more: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F review | Big, brash, and cheerfully entertaining
Jerry Bruckheimer and series co-producer Don Simpson walked away from Beverly Hills Cop III following a dispute with Paramount over its budget. The sequelās pre-production took years, with various ideas written up and then thrown out; Eddie Murphy wasnāt particularly enthusiastic about making it, but eventually relaxed back into the role when someone at Paramount handed him a cheque for $15m.
The resulting film, directed by John Landis, was a critical and financial misfire, and it took almost 30 years for the third, Axel F, sequel to emerge.
The 2024 sequel takes a not-so-subtle jab at its predecessor, with Joseph Gordon Levittās cop leafing through an old file and muttering to Axel, ā1994 ā not your finest hour.ā Itās a line that Molloy partly takes credit for.
Read more: Beverly Hills Cop | The curious longevity of Axel Foley
āI had a lot to do with that, Molloy said. āI’ve never seen [Beverly Hills Cop III], but I’ve heard what Eddie has said about it. I even talked about it with a few of the other actors that were in it, and I just thought it would be a really fun little moment for the franchise fans where we wink back at ourselves. I’m not going to take the full responsibility for it, but I was very involved.ā
In some respects, it makes sense that Bruckheimer wouldnāt bother to watch a film he wasnāt involved in making. But then again, if we were in his position in the 1990s, we almost certainly would have rented Beverly Hills Cop III from our local Blockbuster and hate-watched it over a beer or two.
āGeorge Lucas? Whatās the hellās he doing in this?ā
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is streaming now on Netflix.