The production of 48 Hrs. became an unusually tense test of studio power because Eddie Murphy was still primarily known as a Saturday Night Live performer and had never made a feature film. Murphy joined principal photography several weeks after shooting began, while he was finishing the SNL season, and Paramount executives reportedly reacted badly to the footage appearing in the daily rushes. According to actor Chris Mulkey, it was widely known on the set that studio officials disliked what they had seen of Murphy's performance and wanted him dismissed. Director Walter Hill and co-star Nick Nolte opposed the idea and fought to keep the young comedian in the picture, allowing Murphy to continue developing the fast, abrasive screen persona that would launch his film career.
The executives' concerns were not limited to Murphy. Michael Eisner, then Paramount's head, believed the film was not funny enough, while the studio also considered the hotel shootout excessively violent and feared that its brutality would undermine the comedy. Hill and co-writer Larry Gross were pressured to add material tailored to Nolte and Murphy, and, by Hill's account, Murphy's character was being rewritten virtually until the final day of shooting. Hill later said the studio told him he would never work for Paramount again because of the direction he had taken the film. The confrontation ultimately ended in a spectacular reversal: 48 Hrs. became one of 1982's biggest hits, grossing approximately $78.9 million in the United States and Canada, earning critical acclaim, and transforming Murphy from a television star into a major movie attraction.
