Last fall, while promoting the release of “Mr Church,” Eddie Murphy, speaking with the AP, revealed that previously announced new projects, “Triplets” and “Beverly Hills Cop 4” were no longer happening; although we would late learn that the latter was still in development, with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah attached to direct the film. As of December 2016, it was still in the script stage, and we haven’t received any confirmation since then that the project is dead. It’s still listed as “In Development” on IMDBPro under super producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s production company.
We can maybe now say the same for the “Triplets” project. But first, some back story…
The first mention of it came in 2012, sold as sequel to “Twins,” the 1988 comedy directed by Ivan Reitman about unlikely twins (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) who were separated at birth. “Triplets” was to add Eddie Murphy as a third, long-lost brother, who was also separated at birth, as ridiculous as that might sound – especially considering the age difference between Murphy and the other 2 actors.
In 2013 there was still no script, but the trio shared that they didn’t want to rush it because it had to be good enough, and not just “fluff.”
Ivan Reitman was said to have shown interest in returning to direct “Triplets,” and Universal was reportedly excited about it, as a writer was being sought.
We didn’t hear anything until September of last year (2016), when Murphy told the press, while “junketting” for “Mr. Church,” that the project was officially dead.
But not-so fast says Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to Screen International at Cannes today, where he is pushing a new environment-focused documentary titled “Wonders of the Sea 3D.”
The “Austrian Oak” as he was known during his bodybuilding days confirmed that the “Triplets” project was still very much alive, and could go into production as early as this year: “The script will be finished in a month… It’s just around the corner,” he added, and confirmed that Danny DeVito and Eddie Murphy will co-star, and original producer-director Ivan Reitman is also returning.
No other details on “Triplets” were shared. So now we wait… that is, assuming you were actually looking forward to a sequel to “Twins” co-starring Eddie Murphy.
In addition to a potential “Triplets” movie and “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” Murphy also has a sequel to “Coming to America” on his to-do list; as we reported last month, Paramount, the studio behind the hit 1988 original, has hired Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield (who both wrote the screenplay for the original) to script a “Coming to America” follow-up.