Two of the biggest action movie franchises could be getting a crossover

Stephen Porzio

‘Maybe one day we’ll do a shared universe of movies called The Bruckheimer-verse.’

This summer is noteworthy for action movie fans as it will see two of the biggest franchises in the genre have their fourth films released.

Earlier this month, Bad Boys: Ride or Die landed in Irish cinemas to box office and critical success and next month on 3 July, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will come to Netflix.

Interestingly enough the directors of the last two Bad Boys movies, Belgium filmmaking duo Adil & Bilall, were initially set to helm the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop entry before stepping away from the project and being replaced by Mark Molloy.

And while on the promotional circuit for their Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-starring buddy cop flick, Adil & Bilall appeared as special guests on the podcast Blank Check with Griffin and David for its episode all about the original Beverly Hills Cop.

During the discussion, the pair discussed how the 1984 classic movie’s villain character Victor Maitland, played by Steven Berkoff, influenced Eric Dane’s antagonist character in the new Bad Boys.

The directing duo said Will Smith kept telling them: “We need a bad guy like Victor Maitland,” someone who is “powerful and gets away with everything, is on a high level and is so serious and dark and not comedic at all.”

Speaking of the Bad Boys: Ride or Die villain, Adil & Bilall said: “If you are a fan of Beverly Hills Cop and Victor Maitland, you’ll recognise – it’s maybe the son of Victor Maitland. Who knows?”

They then expressed their interest in a Beverly Hills Cop/Bad Boys crossover, stating: “Maybe one day we’ll do a shared universe of movies called ‘The Bruckheimer-verse’.

“And we’ll bring Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) together with Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence).

Jerry Bruckheimer is a producer on both of the action franchises.

Even more excitingly when the Blank Check hosts suggested that other Bruckheimer-produced movies could be folded into the crossover – such as 1996’s The Rock – the Belgian directors responded with an emphatic “yeah”.

You can listen to the Blank Check episode at the podcast’s website right here. Adil & Bilall made the comments at around the one hour mark.