Jerry Bruckheimer has never seen the universally panned ‘Beverly Hills Cop 3’

So the 1994 release of “Beverly Hills Cop III” was highly anticipated. The problem was that Bruckheimer and Simpson (who were also known for “Flashdance” and “Top Gun”) had exited the franchise due to creative differences. Murphy went forward alongside new producers and director John Landis (“Animal House,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video).

The movie, which found Murphy’s wise-cracking Detroit cop Axel Foley fighting crime at an amusement park and featured an out-of-left-field cameo by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, was universally panned by critics and has since been criticized by Murphy himself.

The star described the movie as “atrocious” in a 2006 episode of “Inside the Actors Studio.”

“The character was kind of banished for a while [from Hollywood],” Murphy said in the episode, referring to the reception of the third movie.

Now, Bruckheimer has returned to the franchise and has been working with everyone from Brett Ratner to new “Bad Boys” franchise directors Adil and Bilall to get a fourth movie just right.

With Netflix backing and Molloy at the helm, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” will be released on the streaming giant on July 3. It marks Molloy’s feature-directing debut after years of commercial work and brings the franchise back to its roots with thrilling action sequences and R-rated humor.

“Whatever has been said about the third one, I’m not going to say a word,” Molloy said. “I love the first two films, and I’ve grabbed onto them with both hands with a lot of love.”