Eddie Murphy Is Rumored to Star in Pink Panther Movie

What does the Pink Panther and Eddie Murphy have in common? Comedic chops.

Eddie Murphy is about to step into the role some would say he was born to play. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eddie Murphy is in negotiations to star in Pink Panther, the MGM comedy based on the classic property. He would star as Inspector Clouseau.

The Pink Panther films told the adventures of bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers), with the first film involving a jewel called the Pink Panther. A cartoon panther appeared in the opening credits, and became popular in his own right, starring in cartoons over the decades.

They are reporting the new feature project would be a live action/CG hybrid and would combine both traditions. The premise takes a buddy cop movie tone to the proceedings with the Inspector and Panther teaming up for the first time ever on the big screen. Currently, the project is rumored to be “in the deep development stages.”

Murphy rose to become one of the top comedy stars in the world with hits like Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America in the 1980s, The Nutty Professor and Doctor Dolittle films in the 1990s and the Shrek films in the 2000s. He most recently starred in Netflix’s divisive You People and Amazon’s critically panned Coming 2 America.

Sonic the Hedgehog filmmaker Jeff Fowler is directing from a script by Chris Bremner, with Rideback’s Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich (Aladdin) producing via their Rideback banner. Larry Mirisch and Julie Andrews are also producing.

Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is a leading entertainment company focused on the production and global distribution of film and television content across all platforms. The company owns one of the world’s deepest libraries of premium film and television content as well as the premium pay television network MGM+, which is available throughout the U.S. via cable, satellite, telco and digital distributors. In addition, MGM has investments in numerous other television channels, digital platforms and interactive ventures and is producing premium short-form content for distribution. For more information, visit www.mgm.com.