Richard Donner to reunite with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover for Lethal Weapon 5

Director Richard Donner has confirmed he will reunite with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover for the fifth and final Lethal Weapon movie.

The 90-year-old filmmaker, who has overseen all four of the action-thriller movies starring Gibson and Glover as the mismatched cop duo, has announced he will be back for one last instalment.

"This is the final one," he told The Daily Telegraph. "It's both my privilege and duty to put it to bed. It's exciting, actually. It's the last one, I'll promise you that."

The original Lethal Weapon was released in 1987 and followed Los Angeles Police Department detectives - widower Martin Riggs, played by Gibson, and Glover's veteran cop Roger Murtaugh - as they try to work together to solve the murder of a young woman and bring down a gang of drug smugglers.

The hugely successful buddy cop action-adventure raked in more than $120 million (£87 million) worldwide on a budget of $15 million (£11 million) and spawned three sequels which were released on the big screen between 1989 and 1998.

In January last year, producer Dan Lin confirmed the fifth film was in the works, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "We're trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie. The original cast is coming back. And it's just amazing."

The movie franchise also spawned a TV series, starring Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans as the mismatched detectives, which ran for three seasons on Fox from September 2016 to February 2019.