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The Naked Gun Worldwide Box Office: Is Now The Highest-Grossing Film In The Franchise! ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson, is now the highest-grossing film in the franchise, and it has achieved this in less than a month. The film had one major advantage in achieving this milestone, and it is on track to set a new benchmark as it closes in on the $100 million milestone worldwide. Keep scrolling for more.

It is a reboot or legacy sequel to Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult starring Leslie Nielsen. This is the fourth film in the franchise. Liam plays the son of Lt Frank Drebin with Pamela Anderson,...

UK-Ireland top five, August 22-24 RankFilm (origin)DistributorAugust 22-24TotalWeek 1 Weapons (US) Warner Bros £1.1m £8.9m 3 2 Freakier Friday (US)

Disney £740,432 £6m 3 3 Materialists (US) Sony £554,097 £2.7m 2 4 The Bad Guys 2 (US) Universal £510,810 £10.4m 5 5 The Fantastic Four: First Steps (US) Disney £507,819 £22.2m 5

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.35

Warner Bros’ Weapons topped the UK-Ireland box office for a third successive weekend, as the top five titles remained the same as last weekend and dropped to a lowest cumulative total since 2022.

Weapons added £1.1m on its third session – a 26% drop that brings it to £8.9m (all total figures include Bank Holiday Monday). It will pass...

The Naked Gun Inches Closer To Beating Jason Statham’s A Working Man At The Worldwide Box Office ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

With a current global haul of $86.5 million, Liam Neeson’s critically acclaimed action-comedy sequel The Naked Gun is on track to outgross The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and become the franchise’s highest-grossing entry. However, with stiff competition from Zach Cregger’s horror hit Weapons, Marvel’s superhero film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and other recent releases, it looks unlikely that the film will cross the $100 million mark worldwide.

As The Naked Gun continues its box office run, it is now poised to surpass the...

The Naked Gun Worldwide Box Office(Photo Credit –YouTube)

Liam Neeson’s action-comedy The Naked Gun currently ranks as the 31st highest-grossing movie this year, with $44.6 million coming from the North American market and another $32.5 million from the international territories. Recently, it overtook several 2025 titles, including the star-studded rom-com Materialists, horror-comedy The Monkey, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Until Dawn, and Black Bag.

As it inches closer to the $80 million mark, The Naked Gun is now poised to surpass the global haul of the original 1988 movie, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! After hitting this milestone, it will become the second-highest-grossing entry of the franchise.

Not too long ago, I did a JoBlo Originals video on the 1994 Jeff Bridges/Tommy Lee Jones action flick Blown Away. In it, I mentioned that the movie had just been re-released by Kino Lorber on 4K Uhd—a cause for celebration. Or so I thought. While the movie is largely intact, two minor soundtrack substitutions have apparently been made, which you can read about here.

The movie relies heavily on the music of U2, and luckily those songs are intact. However, two other soundtrack cuts—Here’s Where the Story Ends by The Sundays and All Night Long by Aretha Franklin—have been replaced. In the case of Here’s Where the Story Ends, the replacement is a cover version you might not notice right away. The Aretha song, however, has been swapped out for some generic jazz, and they even removed Aretha’s name from a piece of...

Before his untimely death in 1982, John Belushi was set to appear on the hilarious Leslie Nielsen TV series that spawned the Naked Gun movies. A comedy icon, Belushi made his name on the late-night show "Saturday Night Live," which marked his first televised appearance with comedy partner Dan Aykroyd. Out of their time together on "SNL," the two developed the Blues Brothers characters, as whom they released a chart-topping platinum album and the comedy movie, "The Blues Brothers." Belushi was also known for his roles in movies such as "Animal House," Amblin Entertainment's debut feature "Continental Divide," and "Neighbors."

A credit Belushi never ultimately received was for an appearance on "Police Squad!" This cult classic comedy series, created by the legendary trio of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker, only ran for six episodes before it was canceled by ABC. While network executives apparently didn't appreciate the series' non-stop quickfire humor,...

The Naked Gun reboot is proving that big-screen comedy still has life left in it. Starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, the new installment was released on August 1 and marks Paramount’s final release under its old leadership, as the studio’s acquisition by Skydance was officially closed earlier this week.

The Naked Gun stars Neeson as wacky cop Frank Drebin Jr., serving as both a reboot and a legacy sequel to the original film trilogy, which starred Airplane's Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. The Naked Gun release kicked off with a $16.8 million debut that marked the second-best opening weekend for the franchise.

Now, per Variety's report, the Paramount release earned an additional $2.3 million on Friday and is expected to earn $8.4 million over the weekend. This marks a 50% drop from its opening weekend, a fairly standard decline for comedies. The Naked Gun's domestic total is expected to hit $33 million...

Worldwide, The Naked Gun will have recouped its $42 million budget by its second weekend. And with the movie being one of the best-reviewed of the year and generating a refreshed interest in slapstick comedy, we have to wonder if there will be a Naked Gun 5. But from the files of Liam Neeson, that seems unlikely.

Liam Neeson recently told Newsweek that The Naked Gun 5 isn’t in the cards, no matter how well it fares at the box office. “I think it’s a one-off, yeah. And if it succeeds, good.”

While those that have dug The Naked Gun so far might be disheartened to hear Neeson shoot down the idea for The Naked Gun 5, he has a point that we have to celebrate it doing so well with audiences. Hell, even David Zucker – who co-created the original series and has been the most vocal opponent of the fourth movie – has championed its success.

Akiva Schaffer's new film "The Naked Gun" is the fourth entry in the "Naked Gun" movie series. The franchise began in 1980 with the short-lived slapstick TV show "Police Squad!," starring Leslie Nielsen as police detective Frank Drebin. Nielsen played the part completely straight (he was a stone-faced Joe Friday type), which was a marvelous juxtaposition to the absurd sight gags around him. "Police Squad!" was co-created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the masterminds behind comedy classics like "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane!" Sadly, the series was too funny to live, and "Police Squad!" was canceled after only six episodes.

However, the series lived on among a cult comedy crowd, and there was enough interest in 1988 to expand the property into a feature film titled "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" By then, the world was ready, and the movie was a huge hit,...

Worldwide box office: August 1-3 Title Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1 Dead To Rights(various) $82.4m $208.8m $82.4m $208.8m 2 2 TheFantastic Four: First Steps(Disney) $79.6m $368.7m $39.6m $170.3m 53 3 The Bad Guys 2(Universal) $38.5m $44.5m $16.3m $22.3m 59 4 The Naked Gun(Paramount) $28.5m $28.5m $11.5m $11.5m 47 5 Superman(Warner Bros) $25.1m $551.2m $11.2m $235m 79 6 Jurassic World Rebirth(Universal) $24.9m $766m $16.2m $448.4m 83 7 F1 The Movie(Warner Bros) $21.3m $545.6m $17.2m $372.3m 79 8 Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba InfinityCastle(Toho) $17.4m $120.7m $17.4m $120.7m 1 9 Nobody(various) $15.5m $17.7m $15.5m $7.7m 1 10 The Stage(various) $10.2m $45.7m $10.2m $45.7m 1

Credit: Comscore.

Update Aug. 3, 2025: Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is running circles around its competition at the box office. The superhero reboot continued its box-office dominance in its second weekend, bringing in $40 million for a solid hold at number one. Directed by Matt Shakman, the film has now amassed nearly $200 million domestically and further cements Marvel’s ability to pull audiences into its deep roster of characters. While industry insiders had initially projected $45 million over the Aug. 1–3 weekend, the actual figure remains impressive, showcasing robust audience engagement even in its sophomore frame.

It was a different story in the battle for second place. Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 lived up to expectations and managed to leap over Paramount’s The Naked Gun, settling into the number two spot with a solid $22 million. Early projections suggested the animated caper might trail slightly behind Liam Neeson’s slapstick reboot, but family...

David Zucker, who directed 1988's The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad and 1991's The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, isn't interested in seeing the 2025 reboot starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., who follows in his father's footsteps to solve a murder case to save Police Squad. Released in theaters on August 1, the 2025 remake is directed by Akiva Schaffer.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Zucker claimed that he's not going to watch the 2025 reboot due to its lack of originality. Clarifying that he is "not leading a boycott" and voicing no ill will toward the film's cast and crew, the filmmaker stressed that he simply couldn't find "any reason to see it," believing that a reboot around the same idea was unnecessary. Read his comment below:

I don't see any reason to see it... I don't have anything against Liam Neeson. I think he's a wonderful actor.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is hanging on to No. 1 in its sophomore outing at the box office, despite a disappointing weekend two result and competition from Dave Franco, Detective Frank Drebin Jr. and “The Bad Guys” crew.

“Fantastic Four” grossed $11.7 million domestically in its second Friday on the big screen, making for a devastating 80% drop from its debut. With that disappointing result, the film will most likely fall short of its initial weekend two estimates of $45 to $52 million by Sunday. Its domestic grand total currently sits at $129.7 million and could reach as high as $170 million by the end of the weekend. Marvel shelled out more than $200 million to produce “Fantastic Four.”

The comic book tentpole, headlined by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn, was shaping up to be the MCU’s first post-pandemic success at bringing a new super team to cinemas after missing the mark with “Thunderbolts*” in May,...

Paramount's The Naked Gun reboot debuted amid heavy competition this week and is poised to deliver a solid box office run thanks to the excellent reviews that it has received from critics and audiences. The slapstick comedy stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson in the lead roles, and is expected to gross over $15 million at the domestic box office this weekend. Movies like The Naked Gun aren't often released in theaters these days, but thanks to the strong performances of a handful of other R-rated comedies in the last couple of years, things are looking up.

The Naked Gun is currently sitting at a "certified fresh" 90% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where its audience score is hovering around 80%. The critics' consensus on Rt reads, "With Liam Neeson's gravelly gravitas proving to be a perfect fit for Frank Drebin's deadpan buffoonery, The Naked Gun revives the original...

This article contains spoilers for The Naked Gun (2025).

While the new Naked Gun movie isn’t perfect, it’s still a very funny spoof that even manages to utilize one franchise regular in a uniquely hilarious way. Two if you count that photo of O.J. Simpson.

As we’ve mentioned before, it was widely expected that “Weird Al” Yankovic would make an appearance in 2025’s The Naked Gun, seeing as how he’s friends with director Akiva Schaffer, and has cameoed in every previous installment of the franchise.

Al’s role in the movie was confirmed when the “Eat It” singer showed up at the movie’s premiere and walked the red carpet in a manner that justified his nickname.

Fans seemed thrilled to learn that The Naked Gun is continuing Al’s streak, but the question remained: Would it live up to the previous cameos?

In the original movie,...

As his turn in cop-comedy reboot brings rave reviews, we look back on the actor’s varied career, from Schindler’s List to Star Wars and, of course, Taken

Liam Neeson may have gained pop-culture immortality for his gravelly growl of a certain line of dialogue in the 2008 hostage thriller Taken – “I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills” – but the release of his new film, a reboot of the classic spoof cop movie The Naked Gun represents another remarkable turn in Neeson’s distinguished career, which has taken in heavyweight prestige dramas, historical biopics, blockbusting science fiction, superhero epics and head-cracking action cinema.

In The Naked Gun, Neeson has for the first time taken the lead role in an out-and-out comedy. He plays Frank Drebin Jr, the police-detective son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin in the original. Created by...

The Naked Gun North America Box Office Projection Update (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson’s The Naked Gun has passed the early reviews with excellent numbers and is now set to have a decent opening weekend. The comedy film is arriving at a time when the theaters are filled with big-budget movies, and it is of the comedy genre, a tough nut to crack at the box office. Keep scrolling for more.

Some critics even called it one of the best comedy movies of the year. They praised Liam Neeson for his performance; however, some complained about Paul Walter Hauser’s less screen time. The comedy flick also features Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand, and Danny Huston in key roles. The trailer left everyone intrigued, and it’s finally releasing this Friday.

How much will the film earn at the North American box office on its opening weekend?...

Paramount’s new iteration of The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the late Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin, and Pamela Anderson, is getting mostly positive reviews from critics ahead of its Friday theatrical release.

The fourth film in the franchise, coming more than 30 years after the last movie, 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, was directed by Akiva Schaffer, who wrote the screenplay with Dan Gregor and Doug Maud. Like the team behind the Nielsen-starring Naked Gun films, David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, Schaffer is part of a comedy trio, in this case The Lonely Island. Previous films in the series include 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! and 1991’s The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear.

The new Naked Gun‘s cast also includes Paul Walter Hauser, Cch Pounder, Kevin Durand,...

How high will “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” fly in its second weekend at the box office?

That’s the lingering question after Disney’s comic book adventure captured a healthy $117.6 million in its debut. Any superhero tentpole can start strong; this one needs momentum to qualify as a hit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In its sophomore outing, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is aiming for $45 million to $52 million, a roughly 55% to 60% decline. That’s a slightly bigger dip than “Superman,” which dropped by 53% in its second weekend after launching to $125 million earlier in July.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” was the final major blockbuster of the summer’s movie season, though Hollywood is hoping that several August releases have the potential to become sleeper hits. Two of the breakout hopefuls include Paramount’s slapstick action-comedy “The Naked Gun” and Neon’s body-horror nightmare “Together,” both of which open this weekend.

Liam Neeson’s upcoming comedy, The Naked Gun, is a reboot of the 1988 original starring Leslie Nielsen. The movie launched a franchise’s worth of sequels — The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear and The Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult. But that movie comedy was also a reboot, a big-screen adaptation of the criminally short-lived TV series, Police Squad!.

Police Squad! was the unlikely follow-up to Airplane!, a film that landed at #10 on AFI’s list of the funniest American comedy movies of all time. Based on that success, why would David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker turn to television?

They didn’t want to. Like Airplane!, the funny guys envisioned Police Squad! as a spoof of a deadly earnest 1950s drama. But unlike Zero Hour, the overwrought disaster movie that lent its plot to Airplane, the episodic police adventures of the TV show M Squad...

Since he first began performing in 1973, Liam Neeson has been one of Hollywood's most consistent actors. The star exploded into prominence when he starred in Schindler's List (1993) in the leading role, Oskar Schindler, and he has excelled ever since. Throughout his career, he has led action hits, dramas, and even comedies.

After all, Neeson appeared in several beloved franchise movies, building his reputation all the while. Those releases include Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Batman Begins (2005), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and Taken (2008). More recently, he appeared in The Lego Movie (2014) and Men in Black: International (2019).

Neeson has certainly been rewarded for his performances. He earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his work on Schindler's List, two Tony Award nominations, and three Golden Globe nominations. He has also helped to usher in over $4 billion at the box office...

Seeing a bunch of underpaid theater employees waiting by the entrance to clean up the Diet Coke you accidentally knocked over is one signal that the movie's just about done, but you know things are wrapping up once names start appearing on a black screen. It's the universal indicator to gather your belongings and, in the words of Ferris Bueller, go home. Not everyone follows this line of action because end credits typically come with some sort of incentive for you to stay while they show you everyone who worked on the movie. I typically hang back if the film happens to have a noteworthy score or soundtrack that I simply just want to hear again. There's also the matter of a movie making you feel so much that leaving once it's done feels nearly impossible.

The contemporary excuse for watching the credits has come down to post-credits scenes that...

The trailer for Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson‘s new movie comedy has been released!

The two actors star in the fourth installment of The Naked Gun franchise, which was previously led by Leslie Nielsen. It’s been over 30 years since the third film was released.

Here’s a brief synopsis for the new movie: “Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in The Naked Gun.”

Keep reading to find out more…The cast also includes Paul Walter Hauser, Cch Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston.

The first 1988 movie, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, was based on the television comedy Police Squad!, which parodied police and crime shows. The movie was then followed by the sequels The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear...

Check out the brand new trailer for The Naked Gun.

Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in The Naked Gun, directed by Akiva Schaffer and from producer Seth MacFarlane.

Joining the case are cast Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Cch Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston.

The “Naked Gun” film series is the hilarious slapstick comedy franchise starring Leslie Nielsen (a comedy god) as the bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin. The films are known for their rapid-fire jokes, visual gags, and parody of police procedural tropes.

For those who have never seen the 3 previous films, you can stream them on Paramount +. Prepare yourselves for Comedy Gold!

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988): This was the first film in the series,...

Paramount Pictures has released the full trailer for its reboot of “The Naked Gun.”

The original 1988 film, “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!,” was based on the television comedy “Police Squad!,” which parodied police and crime shows. The movie, a box office hit, was followed by the sequels “The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear” in 1991 and “Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult” in 1994.

Liam Neeson leads as Frank Drebin, the investigator first portrayed by Leslie Nielsen. Paul Walter Hauser plays Captain Ed, previously played by Alan North and George Kennedy in the show and film franchise, respectively. Pamela Anderson plays the love interest, taking over Priscilla Presley’s film role. The cast also includes Danny Huston, Kevin Durand and Liza Koshy.

“Liam is hysterical in it,” Anderson said at the Zurich Film Festival last October.

Neeson also gave kudos to his co-star: “With Pamela,...

Paramount Pictures has released the official trailer and poster for The Naked Gun, the highly anticipated comedy opening in theaters on August 1, 2025.

The film is officially described as follows: “Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in The Naked Gun.”

The film is directed by Akiva Schaffer and produced by Seth MacFarlane.

The cast includes Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser (upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps), Cch Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, and Danny Huston.

Paramount Pictures is presenting, in association with Domain Entertainment, a Fuzzy Door production. The movie was written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Akiva Schaffer. The film has not yet been rated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), though the previous installments were rated PG-13.

The executive producers include Daniel M. Stillman,...

1988’s The Naked Gun is making a comeback, but will it capture the same magic as the original? Most comedies now feel the need to sneak in a life lesson, and silliness, wordplay, or casual gags have largely been pushed aside. The Naked Gun, however, worked because it didn’t particularly care too much about those things. It just wanted to be funny.

With Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson stepping into the franchise as fresh faces, the 2025 Naked Gun reboot is officially set to hit theaters on August 1, 2025. Originally scheduled for July 18, 2025, the release date was shifted by a couple of weeks, likely to accommodate studio scheduling conflicts, including the rescheduling of Vicious, another Paramount project. Here’s everything we know so far about the new Naked Gun.

Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson star in The Naked Gun reboot

Liam Neeson takes on the role of Frank Drebin Jr.

If you were to compile a list of the best parody movies ever made, you would be hard pressed to find one that doesn't include "The Naked Gun" on it. The hilarious riff on procedural cop shows initially started out as "Police Squad!," a hilarious six-episode television comedy series from David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker whose only crime was being ahead of its time. Although the triage had no such luck making it play to audiences on the small screen, the short-lived series proved to be incredibly successful in movie theaters in the form of 1988's "The Naked Gun," which brought back Leslie Nielsen to reprise his role as the bumbling Detective Lt. Frank Drebin.

The David Zucker-directed film not only jumpstarted Nielsen's comedy career after his memorable role in "Airplane!," but it also led to two sequels: "The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear...

Let’s be honest, friends—comedy doesn’t get much better than Leslie Nielsen with a badge and a straight face. The Naked Gun franchise isn’t just funny; it’s the kind of funny that has you pausing the movie because you’re laughing too hard to catch the next joke.

Nielsen’s portrayal of Lieutenant Frank Drebin redefined parody cinema forever, creating a blueprint for absurdist humor that countless films have tried (and mostly failed) to replicate.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) Poster | Credits: Paramount Pictures

These movies strike that perfect balance where the jokes come so fast you’ll miss half of them on your first viewing. That’s right—these films aren’t just good for a laugh; they’re comedic institutions that reward repeat viewings with hidden gags you somehow missed the first dozen times.

As we prepare ourselves for the upcoming revival,...

Paramount Pictures has released the official teaser trailer and poster for The Naked Gun, the new comedy opening in theaters on August 1, 2025.

Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in The Naked Gun.

The film is directed by Akiva Schaffer and produced by Seth MacFarlane.

The cast includes Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Cch Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, and Danny Huston.

Paramount Pictures is presenting, in association with Domain Entertainment, a Fuzzy Door production. The movie was written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Akiva Schaffer.

The executive producers include Daniel M. Stillman, Akiva Schaffer, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, and Andrew Lary. MacFarlane produces with Erica Huggins. Principal photography for the new movie began on May 6, 2024, in Atlanta, and wrapped on June 28 of that same year.

An official trailer for “The Naked Gun” reboot is here, and brings with it a special set of skills: absurdist comedy, glossy action aesthetics, Liam Neeson in polkadot briefs and a school girl uniform and, naturally, an O.J. Simpson joke.

Neeson stars as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of legendary goofball cop and franchise father Leslie Nielsen. In a brief clip shared online and at CinemaCon, the annual convention of movie theater owners, Neeson brings Nielsen’s brand of crimefighting to a new generation of audiences.

In the midst of a tense heist where police officers are attempting to seize bank robbers, we see a little girl with an oversized lollipop casually walk through the standoff.

“What do you want, little one?” asks a bad guy toting a machine gun. “Your ass,” says the child, before ripping off a face mask to reveal Neeson. The lollipop stick becomes a deadly...

Paramount Pictures dropped the first look at the studio’s “The Naked Gun” remake on Thursday with the film’s first trailer, introducing Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the iconic comedy character played by Leslie Nielsen in the original franchise.

Akiva Schaffer, one third of The Lonely Island, co-wrote and directs the film which follows Drebin Jr. as he leads the Police Squad and, of course, must save the world.

While a teaser was released on YouTube, attendees at CinemaCon got to see an early look at an upcoming full trailer in which Neeson teases his past work in the “Taken” films, warning that when you take a life, there’s no going back. “It’s a moment that makes you say…that was awesome!”

And in a biting moment, as we see members of the Police Squad cry over a picture of the deceased Captain Ed Hocken,...

Before The Social Network began filming, Jesse Eisenberg tried to meet Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg – but then a producer intervened…

Released in 2010, The Social Network wasn’t exactly a flattering portrait of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. In the hands of writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher, the Harvard student who became a billionaire by building a social media empire is roundly portrayed as reclusive, vain and quietly vengeful.

It’s little wonder, then, that The Social Network’s makers weren’t exactly keen to have Jesse Eisenberg – the actor cast as Zuckerberg – to meet the film’s subject in person.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, however, Eisenberg recalls that he was so keen to meet the figure he was playing that he decided to drive over to Facebook’s headquarters in California. He didn’t have an appointment booked, but hoped that Zuckerberg...

The 1991 spoof Hot Shots! found itself to a small degree mirroring the front pages of the newspapers – and 20th Century Fox was worried.

Save for a few sporadic examples – the first Scary Movie, for instance, and more recently The Goes Wrong Show on the BBC – it feels like the era of the successful screen spoof came to a juddering halt in the 1990s. In 1993, we had the second of two Hot Shots! films, and in 1994 the Naked Gun trilogy came to an end. After those? It was slim pickings.

There were further attempts to breathe fresh life into the spoof – Spy Hard, Jane Austen’s Mafia!, Wrongfully Accused – but nothing that could live up to some of the movies we got in the 80s and early 90s.

In 1991 in particular, the spoof was a box office draw. This was the year when many big budget Hollywood productions came in well below box office expectations.

Priscilla Presley has had quite the life, and quite the career, on-screen and off it, but one of her most iconic movie roles will not be revisited, in news that might disappoint fans of her funniest role. Speaking at FanExpo San Francisco, during a panel that reflected on her career, Presley was asked about her experiences on The Naked Gun alongside the late and legendary Leslie Nielsen. Presley played Jane Spencer in The Naked Gun series, and is a key character in the franchise as she serves as the love interest of Nielsen's bumbling detective Frank Drebin. She appeared in all three movies: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994).

Jim Abrahams, part of the writing-directing-producing team behind such comedy touchstones as Airplane!, the Naked Gun films, and Police Squad!, died Tuesday at his Santa Monica home. He was 80.

His son, Joseph Abrahams, confirmed the news to our sister site The Hollywood Reporter.

Along with brothers David and Jerry Zucker, Abrahams also was behind laugh-inducing — and often intentionally groan-inducing — comedy films including Top Secret! and the Top Gun spoofs Hot Shots! and Hot Shots! Part Deux. Students of the Mel Brooks School of Anything for a Laugh, the trio paired absurd situations with deadpan lines and fueled Leslie Nielsen’s unlikely rise to leading man after 30 years in the business.

The trio got their big-screen start writing The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), a series of decidedly un-pc vignettes directed by John Landis that ranged from silly to uproarious to “what the hell?!” and back. Sample: A TV news anchor deadpans from...

Jim Abrahams, a film director and writer behind hit slapstick comedies like “Airplane!,” “Hot Shots!,” the “Naked Gun” series and more, died Tuesday, his son Joseph confirmed to Variety. He was 80.

With his childhood friends Jerry and David Zucker, Abrahams formed the filmmaking trio, called Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, and popularized the spoof genre of the 1980s.

“Jim Abrahams redefined the boundaries of humor through groundbreaking works like ‘Airplane!’ and ‘The Naked Gun’ series. Together with Jerry and David Zucker, he transformed satire into an art form, inspiring generations of comedians and filmmakers and leaving an indelible mark on the world of comedy,” said the National Comedy Center executive director Journey Gunderson in a statement.

With the Zucker brothers, Abrahams founded the The Kentucky Fried Theater while they all attended college together at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1971. That led to them making their film debut with the indie sketch...

Well, it’s only taken thirty-six years, but we’re finally, Finally getting a sequel to Beetlejuice, with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton returning for Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (read our review here). With the sequel bound to introduce a new generation to the Tim Burton classic, now’s the perfect time to look back at the movie and figure out why it stands the test of time. So, here are 10 Reasons Why Beetlejuice Is Still The Ghost With the Most!

10. A Timeless Tale:

There’s a reason why Beetlejuice still resonates all these decades following its initial release. From the time we mere mortals realize that our time on earth is limited, we become preoccupied with the afterlife. Beetlejuice tackles the theme with unusual aplomb, imagining the afterlife as just another stop in our soul’s journey to its final resting place, with our heroes, Alec Baldwin’s Adam and Geena Davis’s Barbara,...

Exclusive: Paul Walter Hauser’s hot streak continues. After seeing New Line lock up rights to the authorized Chris Farley biopic in which he’ll star for director Josh Gad, the actor has signed on to the untitled Naked Gun reboot from Paramount Pictures.

Hauser joins an ensemble that also includes Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, as previously announced. He’ll take on the role of Ed, Frank Drebin’s partner, which was inhabited in prior Naked Gun films by George Kennedy, and in the preceding series Police Squad! by Alan North.

Akiva Schaffer is directing and exec producing the comedy, slated for release in theaters on July 18, 2025. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wrote the draft script along with Schaffer, with whom they partnered on the Emmy-winning film Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing via Fuzzy Door, with Daniel M. Stillman also serving as EP.

The best things come in threes, especially stories. In Western nations, we like a three-act structure in which we set a status quo, watch our heroes fall, and then see them return to greatness. Some of these stories cannot be held within a single movie. For those epics, those monumental narratives, the movie trilogy was born. Trilogies represent some of the best that cinema has to offer, movies that changed the culture and the art form. The trilogy might vary in quality from film to film, but together these three films tell a story that cannot be ignored.

Before we get too far, let’s lay out our criteria. The trilogies chosen here are those intended to be a trilogy, either from the outset or by the end of the third film. Thus we’re including things such as the Toy Story and Indiana Jones trilogies, even though those continued on with further entries.

Liam Neeson will be joined by a popular Baywatch star for the reimagining of The Naked Gun. While Neeson will portray a new version of Leslie Nielsen's character from the original, he'll be co-starring with Pamela Anderson.

Per Deadline, Pamela Anderson has boarded the cast of the untitled Naked Gun reboot, which is due to hit theaters on July 2025. It's been known that the film will star Neeson as Frank Drebin, though Anderson's role hasn't yet been revealed. Akiva Shaffer is directing the movie after co-writing the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the screenwriting duo behind the Disney+ movie Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing while Daniel M. Stillman is executive producing.

Related Naked Gun Creators Are 'Not Happy' About Liam Neeson's Upcoming Reboot Director David Zucker and co-writer Pat Proft share their frustrations with Paramount's Naked Gun reboot,...

Liam Neeson is going to try out a different particular set of skills. The “Taken” star will take a pratfall into slapstick comedy in an upcoming reboot of “The Naked Gun,” the supremely silly parody franchise about cops. On Wednesday, Paramount set a July 18, 2025 release date for the movie, Variety reports.

The film, which is currently untitled, will be directed and executive produced by Akiva Schaffer, Emmy-winning director of “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” and member of the musical comedy group The Lonely Island. Schaffer wrote the script with “Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers” writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”) and Erica Huggins (“Ted”) are producing through their company Fuzzy Door.

“The Naked Gun” franchise was created by the comedy team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker with the 1982 TV series “Police Squad!”, which starred Leslie Nielsen as a dimwitted detective named Frank Drebin.

Paramount Pictures has set a release date for its much-delayed The Naked Gun reboot, which will now land in theaters on July 15th, 2025, per Variety.

Starring Liam Neeson, the currently untitled remake will be directed and executive produced by The Lonely Island’s Avika Schaffer, who co-wrote the script with the writing duo of Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing the film through their company Fuzzy Door. Not much else is known about the project at this time.

“It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction,” Neeson previously joked to People (The TV Show) about the role. “I honestly don’t know.”

Born out of the short-lived 1982 crime spoof series Police Squad!, The Naked Gun franchise originally centered around the late Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling police sergeant Frank Drebin. It began in 1988 with the first film, From the Files of Police Squad!

Remember the famous pottery scene with Patrick Swayze in Ghost? Demi Moore still has those pots over 30 years on.

You really had to be there to appreciate just what a phenomenon Ghost was in 1990. Almost from nowhere, the mid-budget supernatural romance became the biggest hit of the year, shrugging off some of its more dismissive reviews (Roger Ebert wasn’t a fan) and raking in over half a billion dollars at the box office.

Ghost’s centrepiece was its saucy pottery scene, in which Patrick Swayze’s boyfriend Sam canoodles with his lover Molly (Demi Moore) as she caresses a clay pot into shape. Cut to the Righteous Brothers’ version of Unchained Melody, it was one of those moments that was endlessly parodied elsewhere – perhaps most famously in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.

Over 30 years later, Demi Moore has been sharing her recollections of working with Patrick...

The joke that makes The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear great is relatively subtle. In fact, as a child, watching this movie over and over again, it went over my head. Only recently, after releasing the episode of Revisited dedicated to the original Naked Gun and discussing the sequels with a friend, did he clue me in on why the sequel is so funny. The whole point of the movie is that the bad guys, a conglomerate of nuclear, coal and oil industry baddies, want to prevent Richard Griffith’s Dr Meinheimer from presenting a speech to the president urging a change to the country’s oil policy. Meinheimer is kidnapped and replaced by a double to stop this speech from happening. Our hero, Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin, has to save Meinheimer so he can present his speech, which he eventually does. But, the best...

Disney has had mixed success rebooting some of their old blockbuster franchises into television series. The Santa Clauses was a hit and is currently airing its second season on Disney+. However, National Treasure: The Edge of History did not connect with audiences and was not only canceled after one season but also removed from the platform. Yet that has not stopped Disney from looking back over their past movies and trying to update them for modern audiences, and one that is on their radar is The Rocketeer.

While not exactly a box office bomb (it made a modest profit on a then-substantial $35 million budget), the original film was coolly received by audiences, despite some excellent direction from Joe Johnston, an amiable leading couple in Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connolly, and a bravura performance from then-James Bond actor Timothy Dalton. His portrayal of slimy antagonist Neville Sinclair foreshadowed his later highly...

Summer isn’t over yet but HBO and its streaming arm Max are already moving on to fall. With its list of new releases for August 2023, Max is focusing on football! The American kind, mind you, not the actually footy kind.

August 2023 sees the release of two major football documentaries on HBO and Max. The first is the premiere of Hard Knocks on Aug. 10. The new season of long-running NFL training camp docuseries will center on the New York Jets, new employers of legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Aug. 23, Max will air the aptly named Bs High. The doc tells the stranger-than-fiction story of high school football team Bishop Sycamore, which pulled off one of the more notable sports scams you’re likely to ever hear about.

Not of the football variety but in keeping with the North American sports theme will be season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Aug.

DeVaughn Nixon, Quincy Isaiah, and Delante Desouza in ‘Winning Time’ season 2 (Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO)

Hard Knock‘s new season focusing on the New York Jets and the second season of the original drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty join Max’s August 2023 lineup, along with Tracy Morgan’s latest comedy special. August’s schedule also includes the season finales of And Just Like That… and Warrior.

Rap Sh!t season two premieres on August 10th, and the new half-hour young adult animated series Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake arrives on August 31st.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In August 2023:

August 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child...

James Winburn racked up around 80 credits during his career as a stuntman, but for genre fans there is one credit that really stands out from the pack: Winburn was the stunt double for iconic slasher Michael Myers in director John Carpenter‘s 1978 classic Halloween (watch it Here). In the moment where Dr. Loomis shoots Myers six times, sending him tumbling off a balcony, that’s Winburn performing the stunt. Sadly, it has been reported that Winburn passed away at the age of 85.

Winburn’s manager Peter DeLorme confirmed the news to TMZ, saying he passed away this past Saturday, November 19, in a Los Angeles hospital after a short illness. It was quite short, because Winburn attended a convention in the United Kingdom just three weeks ago. The company that put on that convention, which was called For the Love of Horror, said Winburn “was an absolute pleasure to work with...

After being an action star for decades, Liam Neeson revealed that an upcoming “Naked Gun” reboot may threaten his “Taken” persona for good.

“I’ve been approached by Seth McFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the ‘Naked Gun’ films,” Neeson told “People (the TV Show!)” February 7. “It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.”

The “Naked Gun” trilogy starred Leslie Nielsen as a gullible detective in a police procedural parody. The original film premiered in 1988, with subsequent sequels — “The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear” and “Naked Gun 33 1/2: The Final Insult” — debuting in 1991 and 1994, respectively.

Neeson, who currently stars in “Blacklight,” previously said on the “Today” show (via People) that the current action roles he is being offered are written for a lead “29 years of age” — almost 40 years his junior.

“I turn 70 this year, so I’m still getting away with it,...