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EXCLUSIVE: Emmy and Golden Globe winner Eddie Murphy has announced a new Pink Panther movie in early development at Amazon-owned MGM, multiple sources have confirmed to Deadline.
Pink Panther is an iconic comedy-mystery franchise created by Blake Edwards for MGM that chronicles the investigations of incompetent Inspector Jacques Clouseau. So far, Pink Panther has included 11 films as well as numerous series and specials.
Jeff Fowler (Sonic the Hedgehog) will direct the new film from a script by Chris Bremner. Dan Lin, Julie Andrews, Larry Mirisch and Jonathan Eirich are on board as producers. Murphy is expected to take on the role of Clouseau, created by three-time Oscar nominee Peter Sellers in the ’60s and later taken over by Emmy-winner Steve Martin beginning in the early 2000s. A source close to Murphy described the project as a natural fit for the actor, who has long admired Sellers’ comedic accomplishments.
Most recently, Murphy starred alongside Jonah Hill, Julia-Louis Dreyfus and others in Kenya Barris’ directorial debut You People — a hit-and-miss comedy that debuts on Netflix in 2023. He previously reprized his role as Prince Akeem for the Prime Video series Coming 2 America, which he also produced, and will soon be starring alongside Traces Ellis Ross and others in Prime Video’s Christmas comedy Candy Cane Lane be visible. He is also set to star in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley, a new film in its ’80s action comedy series, in which he will star alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Earlier this year, Murphy had a hand in the heist comedy The Package, another film that landed him in a deal with Amazon, which bought the package for a seven-figure sum. He is represented by WME, ML Management and Ziffren Brittenham.