According to reports, Murphy is the one who approached the studio about bringing back the character of Axel Foley, no doubt emboldened by the return of characters such as Rambo, Rocky, John McClane, and Indiana Jones.

The current goal is to get the film in production by 2009 with sights set on a summer 2010 release. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand) is in negotiations to direct.

The first Beverly Hills Cop was released in 1984 and grossed $316 million worldwide (close to $650M in today’s dollars). That film spawned two sequels, the last of which was released in 1994. All together, the three films grossed $712.9 million worldwide.

If this film is released in 2010, it will have been 16 years since the previous film in the franchise. That would be comparable to the 16 years between Rocky movies, 19 years for Indy, 12 years for John McClane, and 20 years for Rambo.

Still, one must ask the question, is there really an audience for this type of movie in this day and age? The last film in the franchise didn’t do nearly as well as the first two did and Eddie Murphy isn’t exactly known for his cutting edge action films these days.

Would you go see a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie?

There are no fights in Hollywood that are too big that money can’t ease the tensions. Cruise is coming off his worst showing in two decades with Lions For Lambs and is looking for a hit. Early buzz on his WWII film, Valkyrie, hasn’t been good and the film has already been pushed back several times. It’s no wonder Cruise would look to Mission: Impossible as a money making machine. A fourth film in the series would almost certainly do well on the world market.

Cruise, of course, is no longer a part of the Paramount family after his fight with Redstone led to a parting. After Cruise’s deal with Paramount ended, he and business partner Paula Wagner struck a deal with MGM to revive the United Artists banner. On Tuesday, however, Redstone said that he has no objections to Tom Cruise starring in another M:I movie for Paramount (which is owned by Viacom).

“I consider Tom Cruise a great actor and a good friend,” Redstone said. “And if Paramount decides to move ahead with him, I will not object.” He added that the decision was “up to Brad Grey, who runs Paramount.”

Paramount apparently feels like it’s a good idea as they’ve begun talks with Cruise to star in a fourth film. There’s no word on whether or not there’s a script in play for a Mission: Impossible 4 or if there is any sort of story.

MacFarlane’s new overall deal will make him the highest-paid writer-producer working in television. Having seen his work, I find this hard to comprehend. The deal, which could be worth more than $100 million (yeah, really), covers his work on “Family Guy” and his other two animated series for 20th Century Fox TV and Fox – “American Dad!” and the upcoming “Family Guy” spinoff “The Cleveland Show” (you gotta be kidding me) – as well as his series development, which includes a multicamera comedy with “Family Guy” writer Gary Janetti. It also encompasses new media projects related to MacFarlane’s TV series as well as DVD and merchandising revenue from them.

The deal is retroactive, as MacFarlane’s previous pact with 20th TV expired more than a year ago. It is expected that MacFarlane’s deal will easily eclipse the $60 million five-year feature/TV pact J.J. Abrams (“Lost”) inked with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. TV in 2006.

It’s starting to sound like Abrams got hosed. Have you seen “Lost” lately? Have you seen “Family Guy” lately? This business is screwy.

Still, you have to hand it to MacFarlane. He’s managed to do quite well for himself in a difficult industry. He’s been with Fox his whole network life. He started out ten years ago, fresh out of college, by pitching his idea to Fox for an animated comedy based on characters from his thesis and his sequel to it. The network and 20th Century Fox TV gave him $50,000 to make a presentation and MacFarlane spent 6 months writing, drawing, and animating in his home to create “Family Guy.” The network picked it up and MacFarlane became the youngest executive producer/showrunner ever at the age of 24. He had his first multimillion-dollar long term deal before his show even premiered.

Looks like he’s going to be around for a while.

The first person cast in the film was actually Sienna Miller (Stardust, Factory Girl) who was cast as (it is believed) the Baroness, the exotic and evil sidekick of Destro. That decision has been widely criticized. The decision to cast Ray Park, however, has been roundly applauded as he is seen as an excellent choice to play the Snake Eyes character.

Park has long been a fan favorite to take on the role. Park is probably best known for playing Darth Maul in “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace.” He also played Toad in the original “X-Men” film.