'Beverly Hills Cop' won't be toned down

Director Brett Ratner has insisted that his new Beverly Hills Cop movie will not be toned down from the original.

Ratner told MTV that the fourth instalment in the action-comedy series, which will see Eddie Murphy reprise his role as Axel Foley, will not be watered down to appeal to a broader audience.

"It's a hard R," Ratner said, referring to the movie's intended US rating classification.

The director added that he plans to drop 'IV' from the title because it will be a "reinvention" of the series.

"I'm going to reintroduce it to a contemporary audience," he explained. "I'm going to take the best of the first two films and put it into the new one."

The original Beverly Hills Cop grossed $316 million worldwide on its 1984 release and spawned two sequels, the last of which arrived in cinemas 15 years ago.