There are still plenty of people who remember the less than loving reaction to Eddie Murphy’s 2003 Haunted Mansion movie, and is seems that Murphy himself is one of them. For that reason he doesn’t feel like his appearance in Disney’s latest attempt to bring their long-standing theme park ride to life would benefit from him making an appearance. The Haunted Mansion movie is currently coming together courtesy of director Justin Simien and has an all-star cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfeid, Tiffany Haddish, Winona Ryder, Jared Leto, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito.

Eddie Murphy recently addressed the possibility of him turning up for a cameo or more in the upcoming reboot, but it seems that he is happy to leave that particular project in the past as he feels the film will probably be better off without him. He told Entertainment Tonight:

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Murphy isn’t wrong either, as his movie ended up landing a 14% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes and was torn apart by critics. The film did however gross over $180 million, which meant it was not a complete flop and proved there could be potential in the franchise.

“I did a Haunted Mansion movie, and it wasn’t very good, so I don’t know if they want to bring the old baggage and have me stinking up the new one. My Haunted Mansion was not all that and a bag of chips."

Eddie Murphy Will Soon Be Back As Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop 4

     Paramount Pictures

It has been almost three decades since we last saw Eddie Murphy take on his most famous live-action role as Axel Foley– as his best known role overall is will now and forever be as the voice of Donkey in the Shrek franchise. 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III was not well received by critics, and Murphy himself considers it the weakest of the original trilogy. In its box office standings, the third movie in the franchise took only $119 million off the back of its $70 million budget, and was the only film of the series to take less domestically than overseas.

However, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Murphy will be hoping to jump on the same legacy sequel bandwagon that served Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Top Gun: Maverick well. However, unlike those movies, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley will make its debut, with a possible limited theatrical release beforehand, a la Glass Onion. While this is possibly a little disappointing for Murphy and the franchise, the lull of the third movie, combined with Murphy’s less than stellar movie offerings of the last twenty years, is perhaps an indication that Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley will perform much better as a streaming movie than having a full theatrical release.

The film does not yet have a release date, but is currently filming under the direction of Mark Molloy from a Will Beall script. Jerry Bruckheimer is back as producer, and along with the return of Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton and Paul Reiser, the film will also see the addition of Taylour Paige, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon to the cast.