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Play It Again, Eddie Murphy

Tue., Sep. 9, 2008 1:50 PM PDT by Marc Malkin

Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Brett Ratner

Paramount Pictures; Glenn Weiner/ZumaPress.com

There are two things most people remember about the Beverly Hills Cop movies: Eddie Murphy as Detective Axel Foley and the flick's Grammy-winning theme song.

Well, when Beverly Hills Cop IV goes into production, director Brett Ratner promises both will be back.

"It's a whole new interpretation," Ratner tells me.

Composer-producer Harold Faltermeyer's synth-pop theme will get an update, but not too much. "Why change that song?" Ratner says.

He goes so far as to say that one of the "biggest problems" with director Michael Mann's movie adaptation of Miami Vice with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in 2006 was the missing iconic theme song.

"I said to [Mann], 'Why didn't you have it?' " Ratner says. "He said, 'We're doing something new.' That's like doing Mission Impossible without the theme song."

Production on BHC IV will reportedly begin next year with a 2010 release date, or 25 years after the first installment of the franchise.

Ratner is also busy putting together a DVD about the music videos he's directed for people like Madonna, Jessica Simpson and Miley Cyrus, to name a few. "They're interviewing all the singers I've worked with," Ratner says. "I'm worried."