So Stallone did both his big franchises, Eastwood did another Dirty Harry movie, Indiana Jones is making a killing at the box office, so it was only a matter of time before another actor with a successful film franchise to his name was going to dust it off to make another movie.

That man...Eddie Murphy.
That movie...Beverly Hills Cop.

From Variety....

On the heels of the successful revival of the "Indiana Jones" franchise, Paramount has set in motion a fourth installment of "Beverly Hills Cop."

Eddie Murphy is attached to reprise his role as Detroit detective Axel Foley, and Brett Ratner is negotiating to direct.

Studio is aiming for a 2009 production start and a summer 2010 release.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the original "Beverly Hills Cop" trilogy with late partner Don Simpson, won't be actively involved in the new film.

The studio canvassed a number of directors before choosing Ratner. A writer will be hired shortly.

Released in 1984, the original "Beverly Hills Cop" grossed $316 million worldwide and spawned two sequels. All told, the three pics grossed $712.9 million worldwide. The last was released in 1994.
***

But when is the last time that Murphy has been relevant at the box office?
How will this do?

In the last couple weeks, clips of the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie have surfaced, giving audiences samples of what to expect from the new feature film. The film is a reboot of the franchise after the critical and financial failure that was 2003's Ang Lee Hulk. (Hey I liked it...a little)

Louis Leterrier is at the helm of the June 13 film. It stars Edward Norton, as Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, Tim Roth as Emil Blonksy and William Hurt as Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross.

The film, models itself after the Bill Bixby TV series from all reports. It will streamline the origin and immediately set action in motion as the military is after Banner and the potential for a weapon his alter ego can be. To match the Hulk's power, Blonsky agrees to recieve an experimental serum that turns him into a monstrous villain and then....well you know how that's going to go down.

How well can the Hulk do? Iron Man, a relatively unknown (and it's a joke to say that, but it is true outside of comics) crushed the box office and continues to do well. Under the $126 million box office juggernaut that was Indiana Jones, Iron Man came in at a modest 3rd place with another $26 million. Can another non Superman/Batman/Spiderman character rake in the money at the box office?

Hulk will be heavily CG, not as heavy as Speed Racer (thank God!!!!!), but the title character is ALL CG, how will movegoers respond to that? Can they connect with a computerized character?

Time will tell, but these clips might tell a little bit.

http://www.cinematical.com/... This is after Blonksy has received a serum injection, hence his super human movement.
http://www.cinematical.com/...
http://www.cinematical.com/...

Yes, that's right a Fraggle Rock feature. According to the good folks at Buzzsugar.com, who are actually citing the good folks at Variety....the Fraggles are back courtesy of the Weinsteins who are teaming up with Lisa Henson of the Jim Henson Company to bring a live-action, half-human, half-puppet Fraggle Rock movie to the big screen.

The best part of it all?

No CG, can you believe it?!

A remake from many of our childhoods that will not be abused by CG.

I am so there.

And you know what, I totally wouldn't be offended if they changed the lyrics to the theme song from "Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer" to "Here he sucks, he sucks Speed Racer."

That is two hours and four minutes of my life I would like refunded to me. The movie turned out to be what I feared when the Wachowski brothers were set to direct. A whole lot of greenscreen flash and little story.

After rejecting the offer of a huge corporate racing owner and finding out that the beloved Grand Prix racing series is fixed, Speed Racer, (Emile Hirsch), must do what he does best, race, to right the wrongs and save the reputation of the Racer family.

Here's what I did like:

The message of the importance of family.

Here's what I didn't like:

I expected it to be a little cartoony and campy, but the amount in the movie was ridiculous.

It was too long.

The racing scenes were exciting for a few minutes, but the long cross country rally race got old pretty quick.

It was too long.

There was waaaaaaaay to much color in the movie.

It was too long.

I remember one of the things people complained about from Ang Lee's "Hulk" movie from a few years ago was his transitions were terrible, overdone and annoying. It's like the Wachowski's studied Lee's method and set out to repeat it and make it even more annoying.

It was too long.

The kid playing Speed's younger brother Sprittle, (Paulie Litt), was supposed to be cutesy and get laughs. Well all he got was my aggravation. He was just so over the top and annoying.

Did I mention it was too long?

And it's a PG rated movie so why are they throwing in Sprittle flipping the bird and other bits of profanity more suited for a PG-13 movie?

Wait for this stinker to come out on DVD. I said on Friday in the M3 that this was my hope that more anime, seriously done, would come down the pike....man Speed Racer set anime adaptations way back.

According this NY Daily News story, 77-year-old Clint Eastwood is looking to revive the Dirty Harry franchise in a new film. Although our boy may not make it out alive from this one.

I don't know what to make of this one. I mean I liked "Rocky Balboa" and "Rambo," the new "Die Hard" I haven't seen because I  cringe at the idea of Justin Long playing Bruce Willis' sidekick in the movie. But another Dirty Harry movie...can Eastwood pull it off?

Marvel Studios' first production Iron Man, grossed an estimated $104.2 million domestically and over $201 million worldwide. The closest second place was the critically panned (and rightfully so) "Maid of Honor" with $15m.

You know the sequel to Iron Man is coming, but of course with the scene at the end of the credits (coolest cameo ever!) One has to wonder when Marvel will unleash its long rumored Avengers movie.

Well in a meeting with shareholders by Marvel, Iron Man 2 was announced for a release on April 30, 2010, followed by three more movies for the summers of '10 and '11. Matthew Vaughn's Thor is set for a release on June 4, 2010, and The First Avenger: Captain America (the working title) will kick off the summer of 2011 on May 6, followed by the highly-anticipated and foreshadowed The Avengers scheduled for July 2011. (Edgar Wright's Ant-Man is also listed as being in development with no release date set.)

If you're a comic book fan, these are certainly some exciting times we find ourselves living in.

http://www.whysoserious.com...

And good gravy it looks great!
After the awesome-ness that was Iron Man (which I have seen three times now), I know this will further blow the roof off the summer blockbuster season.

Holy $#%! on a stick!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past several months, you know there is an Iron Man feature film starring Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and directed by Jon Favreau.

The film is the story of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (Downey, Jr.) who uses a highly advanced suit of armor to fight evil. It's cliche, yeah, I know. What super hero origin isn't on some level? But you have an all star cast, terrific director who respects and is sticking to the source material, and this is the first film produced in house. What do I mean? X-Men, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Fantastic 4, those films were licensed to other studios to produce. Iron Man marks the first time Marvel Comics has produced one of their own movies of their characters, giving them much more freedom and control over the final product. That can only be a good thing.

Yours truly will be on hand for the midnight showing but I will be at Cinemark a bit earlier talking to fans and movie goers at 8 p.m. for a special video edition of Hollywoodland. Check for that tomorrow.

And also be sure to check the Advocate's special M3 Iron Man edition in Friday's paper.

If you need a refresher I am including the most recent Iron Man trailer.