(Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images for AFI)

One of the most anticipated new series of the next television season just got stopped in its tracks.

Beverly Hills Cop, the series reboot of the classic comedy starring Eddie Murphy, has been dropped by CBS after the network put in an order for a pilot. The drama is now being shopped to other networks, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The news comes as a huge surprise to insiders, who thought a series order was imminent for the franchise spin-off particularly because of Eddie Murphy’s involvement. While the reboot centered on the son of Axel Foley, Murphy’s character in the 1984 hit, Murphy is an executive producer of the spin-off and was committed to appearing in a handful of episodes. Murphy starred as wise-cracking detective Foley in three installments of the franchise between 1984 and 1994. The films were huge hits and launched Murphy to the Hollywood A-list in his post-SNL days.

Murphy and producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) are still holding out hope that the series will find a home at another network.

(Photo: Paras Griffin /Landov)

Did Tyler Perry get tempted to steal the idea for his film Tyler Perry’s Temptation? A screenwriter from Gary, Indiana claims so.

William James, a small town scribe, is suing Perry for stealing the script for the critical bomb from him, reports TMZ. James says Temptation is a rip-off of his script Lover’s Kill, which he wrote in 2009. The synopsis for James’ original work is a woman, tempted by a man who ruins her picture-perfect marriage.

Um, isn’t that a tale as old as time? If James intends to pursue this in court, he’ll have to name virtually every author, screenwriter and filmmaker in history as co-defendants.  To make matters worse, James admits he doesn’t even know if Perry ever read his script. He submitted it blindly to Oprah Winfrey, hoping it would reach Perry.

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The Intouchables was one of the breakout hits last year, breaking Amelie’s record for highest-grossing international release of a French film. Now, lead actor Omar Sy is set to make his Hollywood debut.

Sy, who played a troubled teen from a rough neighborhood charged with caring for an invalid aristocrat in The Intouchables, is close to booking a role opposite Bradley Cooper in Chef. The project, in which Cooper will play a temperamental chef whose Parisian restaurant loses its Michelin star rating, will be directed by Blue Valentine’s Derek Cianfrance.

The actor has also landed the lead in French drama Chocolat (not to be confused with Johnny Depp’s seminal love story with the same name). The film portrays the life of Rafael Padilla, a former Cuban slave who becomes the first Black entertainer in France’s Belle Epoque era.

Hopefully we’ll see the French actor walk the red carpet at the upcoming Academy Awards, where The Intouchables is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

(Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

He’s hunted vampires and diffused bombs for his country, and now Anthony Mackie is ready for the ultimate act of cinematic patriotism. The Gangster Squad actor is officially on board for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the sequel to last year’s smash hit. In the film, Mackie will play Sam “Falcon” Wilson, an ally to Chris Evans‘ Captain America.

No one is more excited about the news than Evans himself, who gushed about Mackie to MTV News: “He’s so great,” Evans said of his co-star. “I’ve known Mackie for a few years now. I’m really happy we got him. We got lucky.”

Also lucky? The millions of women who will soon get to see Mackie in a skin-tight latex suit.

Falcon, introduced by Marvel Comics in 1969, was the first African-American hero in mainstream comics. He was also — trivia! — the first Black superhero to not actually have “black” as part of his name. The Falcon’s super power? He has a strong mental link to birds and the ability to fly like one.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier hasn’t started shooting yet, but it won’t be long before we get a glimpse of Mackie in all his winged glory.

(Photo: Universal Pictures)

Before Heath Ledger put playing against A sexual orientation stereotype on the to-do list for every actor chasing an Oscar nomination, Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo took a chance on a little film called To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. In the long-titled film, Snipes, Swayze and Lequizamo played New York City drag queens who embark on a cross-country journey that lands them in small-town Nebraska, where they bring some color, and life lessons, to the locals.  Saturday marked the 17th anniversary of the film.

Unlike its cinematic predecessors Some Like it Hot and Tootsie, in which the cross-dressing characters donned dresses as a campy disguise and much of the humor derives from their discomfort, in To Wong Foo, the three leading ladies put on panty hose, earrings and sequins as a way of staying true to themselves. As Snipes’ ultra-fabulous Noxeema Jackson points out, “When a gay man has way too much fashion sense for one gender, he’s a drag queen.”

The film was mostly panned by critics for being a safe version of it’s Australian predecessor Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but still proved far ahead of it’s time. Even with the LGBT rights movement in full swing, it’s hard to picture more than a handful of A-list actors, as all three leads of To Wong Foo were at the time of it’s release, risking their macho images to play a drag queen.

While neither Snipes, Leguizamo or Swayze were recognized by the Academy Awards (John Leguizamo and the late Patrick Swayze received Golden Globe nods) for their commitment to the challenging roles, the film did receive a GLAAD Award nomination for Outstanding Film.

(Photo: PacificCoastNews.com)

Lee Daniels is probably not a happy camper this week. The Oscar-nominated director had to sit idle while the threat of Hurricane Isaac shut down his production of The Butler, currently shooting in Louisiana. The film’s all-star cast, including Cuba Gooding Jr., Alan Rickman, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo and Forest Whitaker, had to be evacuated to safe locations until Isaac passed.

A source tells the New York Post, “the cast and crew for the film is huge, and it was a giant operation to get them out. But everyone has been taken to safety.”

While we’re sure the cast and crew are eager to get back to work, you gotta imagine the bunker where they’re waiting out the storm must look like one hell of an imaginary dinner party. We’d love to be a fly on the wall as the eclectic and powerful group passes time doing Lord-knows-what. Perhaps Oprah started an impromptu book club?

The Butler is Daniels’ film about the life of White House butler Eugene Allen, played by Whitaker, and his service to eight American presidents over three decades. Allen started as a “pantry boy” in the White House in 1952, and rose through the ranks to head butler. He retired in 1986.

(Photos from left: Courtesy of Stage 6 Films, Courtesy of Millenium Films)

There’s something for everyone at the box office this weekend. In one corner, we have Sparkle, for lovers of semi-biographical-musical-period-remakes or anyone interested in seeing the late, great Whitney Houston in her comeback performance.

If emoting through song is the kind of thing that makes you want to gouge out your eyes and pour wax in your ears, there’s the more testosterone-y Expendables 2, starring Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris and a bunch of other aging muscle-men reliving their heydays.

Will it be a battle of the sexes at the box office, or have we moved on from those kinds of gender stereotypes? We’ll find out on Monday.

(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

The cast for Universal Pictures’ caper comedy Identity Thief (can you guess what it’s about?) is getting more interesting. Morris Chestnut just signed on for the film, about a woman (Melissa McCarthy) who steals a rich guy’s (Jason Bateman) identity. Havoc ensues, naturally.

Chestnut and T.I. are on the right side of the law, as a Boston cop and bounty hunter, respectively, hired to chase down the culprits.

McCarthy is a hot property after earning an Oscar nod for her breakout role in Bridesmaids last year, while Bateman is…just Bateman. King of quirky-indie-comedies. The film will be directed by Horrible Bosses helmer Seth Gordon.

Look for an early spring 2013 release.

(Photo: Courtesy Dreamworks)

Looks like Eddie Murphy’s A Thousand Words is lost in translation. The actor’s latest film, which was a critical and commercial bomb in the US, won’t be coming to theaters in the UK. Local distributors canceled the film’s release after it’s poor showing stateside.

The film, which also stars Kerry Washington, sat on a shelf for close to four years before it got a chance at the box office here at home, but it’s $15 million performance over three weeks hasn’t exactly made up for lost time. The film is still scheduled to open in France and Germany in May.

Meanwhile, Murphy is moving onwards and, um, upwards with a new project: the Hollywood Reporter just announced he’ll star opposite Arnold Schwarznegger and Danny DeVito in the sequel to the 1988 hit Twins, called…you guessed it…Triplets. Murphy will, of course, play the third brother.

Who says what’s old can’t be new again?

(Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros Pictures)

Grab your headset and put on your favorite diva wig. Whitney Houston’s classic film The Bodyguard is coming back to theaters…for only one night. The box office hit, which is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, will play in 400 movie theaters across the country on March 28. The Bodyguard was the second highest-grossing film of 1992, and the soundtrack earned two Oscars and three Grammy awards. It was the biggest hit of Houston’s acting career, both commercially and critically, and of course the soundtrack contained Houston’s most memorable hit, “I Will Always Love You.”

The event will, naturally, have special meaning after Houston’s sudden passing in February. Many remember Kevin Costner’s touching eulogy to the late superstar, in which he spoke fondly about the experience making The Bodyguard.

The special event will take place just one day after Warner Bros. releases The Bodyguard 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. Don’t miss it!