Whole cop crew returning for Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop 4?

According to Moviehole, Beverly Hills Cop 4 producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura will wipe the slate clean by completely ignoring the last two Beverly Hills Cop sequels, making a direct sequel to Eddie Murphy’s 1984 comedy classic.

That means detectives Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) will most likely return. According to reports, Reinhold is already confirmed for the new sequel, and Paramount Pictures is currently in talks with Ashton.

Brett Ratner (Rush Hour trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand) is attached to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4 with Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (3:10 to Yuma, Wanted) writing the script. The pair are adapting a script they wrote called Dying Day; a dark action film about two FBI field agents in LA who discover their entire unit is corrupt. The updated story will remain dark, while leaving room for Murphy to step in and funny it up. That’s similar to what he did in the original, when he worked from a script originally destined to become a Sylvester Stallone action film.

Beverly Hills Cop 4 is currently scheduled to be released in 2012.