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Slapstick is back. With The Naked Gun hitting theaters on Friday, Paramount Pictures is betting on the kind of broad comedy that was once a big draw at the box office. If you’re looking to catch the original films, they’re conveniently streaming in one place, Paramount+.

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Paramount+ is available with a one-week free trial and comes with two tiers. Paramount+ Essential is ad-supported, while Paramount+ Premium is ad-free,...

A brand-new Naked Gun movie is on the way, and this time Liam Neeson is stepping into the world of silly crime-fighting as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. The film is set to come out in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2025, and it promises a mix of throwback jokes and new characters that aim to bring back the goofy fun of the original films.

The director is Akiva Schaffer, who also co-wrote the script along with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. According to Paramount Pictures, this will be the fourth movie in the series, following 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.

Instead of a reboot, it’s being called a legacy sequel, meaning it continues the story but with a new generation. Neeson plays the son of Leslie Nielsen’s iconic detective character.

Related: 10 Worst Comedy Movies That Have Zero Laughs

The cast is packed with familiar faces and a few surprising ones.

The next chapter in the Naked Gun series is on its way, and fans have plenty to look forward to. The new movie is called The Naked Gun, and it brings back the famous goofy police comedy but with fresh faces and some familiar ones too.

Directed by Akiva Schaffer, who also helped write the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, this film acts as a legacy sequel to Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult from 1994. It is the fourth movie in the franchise and stars Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr.

The film is set to hit theaters in the United States on August 1, 2025, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Related: Here’s Every Movie Coming to Theaters This Week

Alongside Liam Neeson, the cast includes Pamela Anderson returning as Beth, Paul Walter Hauser playing Capt. Ed Hocken Jr., and a mix of other actors like Kevin Durand, Danny Huston,...

Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of The Naked Gun has been winning over a lot of skeptical fans with its latest trailer — but the director of the original film has yet to be convinced.

David Zucker, who co-directed classics such as Airplane! and Top Secret!, has been very critical of the new movie, recently telling Fox News that “just being a fan” doesn’t qualify the filmmakers to take on the goofy franchise.

Part of Zucker’s dissatisfaction with the new project seemingly stems from the fact that Paramount previously turned down his pitches for potential franchise continuations. In a new interview with Film Threat, Zucker confirmed that one rejected sequel idea was a spy movie spoof called Naked: Impossible, which had been preceded by a more straightforward continuation dubbed Naked Gun 4: Nordberg Did It.

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Zucker also noted that, after the latest trailer was released, he and collaborator Pat Proft...

Now that the hype for the next installment in The Naked Gun series – starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin, Jr. – is real, we do all have to remember the time when we were all skeptical. Face it, without Leslie Nielsen and any of Zaz (Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers) at play, what good could possibly come of it? Really, couldn’t someone from the original writing team have had a hand in the movie? As it turns out, David Zucker says he was excluded entirely from the process of The Naked Gun.

For a little background here, Zucker was previously quoted as saying he did in fact get the script for The Naked Gun delivered to him, noting, “I read the script, and I politely told them I wasn’t going to put my name on it. They wanted nothing from me except my name.” With The Naked Gun...

If you had to choose between watching Liam Neeson’s upcoming movie, The Naked Gun, and the internet’s most infamous video, 2 Girls 1 Cup, most would choose the Liam Neeson film.

Well, of course, the comparison between the two is a little absurd, but this comparison was made by David Zucker, who was the original director of the Naked Gun films back in the 1980s and 90s. According to Zucker, some things aren’t meant to be seen by people, and Liam Neeson’s The Naked Gun just so happens to be one of them.

2 Naked Guns 1 Liam Neeson

For people living under a rock, The Naked Gun was a film series starring Leslie Nielsen in the lead role. There were three movies, and Liam Neeson is out here with a remake of the movie called… The Naked Gun.

Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Created by...

If you can’t join ‘em, spoof ‘em.

That’s what David Zucker has made a career out of, and it’s what he is still doing with new instructional-video web series, MasterCrash, a play on MasterClass. In the first episode of MasterCrash, coming out in July, Zucker (Airplane! The Naked Gun! movies) will teach viewers his 15 rules of writing parody. The writer/director’s motivation isn’t (solely) money or fame, nor is it really about teaching a new generation of comedy writers. It is, to some degree at least, about revenge.

“My manager, about three years ago, tried to enter me in MasterClass,” Zucker told The Hollywood Reporter. He was rejected. (MasterClass did not respond to requests for comment.)

Zucker is used to rejection these days. His script with Pat Proft (Hot Shots!) for Naked Gun 4!, which they titled Naked: Impossible!, was passed over in favor of giving Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live,...

When the great Leslie Nielsen made the media rounds in 1996, promoting his James Bond spoof, Spy Hard, everyone wanted to know one thing. Was he shocked when O.J. Simpson was arrested for murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and Ron Goldman, and did he think he was guilty? Ever the Canadian gent, Nielsen retired the ever-present fart machine he enjoyed using in interviews, and tried to give a thoughtful answer. Basically, he said that the Oj he knew on set from the three Naked Gun movies they did together never gave him an inkling that he would be capable of murder, although, to read between the lines of his answer, it was clear Nielsen likely had serious doubts as to his innocence.

Indeed, when The Naked Gun 33 1/3rd came out on March 18th 1994, no one who went to see it – and I was one of them – would have ever thought that three months later,...

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.

David Zucker has made it clear that he is not thrilled about the upcoming reboot of The Naked Gun being a thing. Having reportedly been shut out of the new movie, Zucker became known for not only The Naked Gun franchise, but movies such as Airplane, which also starred rubber-faced Leslie Neilsen in the lead role. With a new teaser having just been released for the upcoming movie, which puts Liam Neeson in the role of Nielsen's character's son, Zucker shared his response to the first look at the film with a less than complimentary comparison.

Many fans of The Naked Gun have been quite happy with the idea of a new film in the franchise, and while Neeson has become known for his rough, tough action roles, that perhaps makes him the perfect choice to send up his action persona with a more comedic approach. While the first footage,...

It was the fall of 1983, and my brother, Jerry, Jim Abrahams and I were frustrated at the difficulty of casting the lead for our movie, Top Secret!.

We auditioned actor after actor with no success. Then our casting director, Susie Arnold, came across a young actor appearing in an off-Broadway play called Slab Boys. So we all got on a plane to New York and saw Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and an obscure young actor named Val Kilmer. I don’t recall much about the play, but he looked good and appeared to be able to act, so the next day we had him come up to our offices on the 17th floor of the then-Gulf & Western building on Central Park South for an audition.

His reading was spot-on, but when he broke into an impromptu rendition of Elvis’ “Turn Me Loose,” we knew we had our star. He made us laugh,...

The comedy genre has produced some of the greatest movies of all time, from iconic parodies like Airplane! and Young Frankenstein to satires like The Death of Stalin. When it comes to sequels, the genre has more than most, with the relatively low cost of making a great comedy allowing for success to turn good stories into franchises. As a result, a wide range of comedies of all stripes have produced some excellent sequels.

Comedy sequels can be incredibly hit or miss, with some movies losing key cast members or original creators, while others find success with each entry. However, when they're done right, they can keep the audience coming back for more, even surpassing the prior films. From spy parodies to coming-of-age tales, returning to the stories of entertaining characters can bring the comedy genre to its height -- and some movies prove it.

The Spy Who Shagged Me...

Even though 2025 is a year full of popular horror franchise returns like the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, a new Final Destination, M3GAN 2.0, and more, one series that isn't coming back until 2026.

On Friday, Scary Movie 6 writer and producer Marlon Wayans shared the release date for the upcoming film via an Instagram post. It will officially receive a later spring theatrical release on June 12, 2026. Paramount Pictures will release the film through their first-look deal with Miramax (distributor for the first three movies).

Marlon will write the script for the latest parody film alongside his brothers Keenan and Shawn. The cast and director for Scary Movie 6 have not yet been announced, but fans are clamoring for Anna Faris and Regina Hall to reprise their leading roles as Cindy and Brenda.

Although no official details have been released regarding what the sixth film will be...

Twelve years have gone by since the release of a new entry in the Scary Movie horror parody series – but the franchise isn’t going to remain dormant for much longer. Last April, it was announced that the Miramax label at Paramount, which is now operating under new boss Jonathan Glickman, had given the greenlight to a new Scary Movie sequel, with the plan being to get the film into theatres sometime in 2025. Now we know exactly when the new movie is going to be released… but it’s not going to be this year. Scary Movie 6 is scheduled to reach theatres on June 12, 2026. As of right now, we know this is going to put it in direct competition with the next movie from the Daniels, the directing duo behind Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The Scary Movie series is being revived with the help...

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.

Earlier this year, Paramount and Miramax announced that they are reviving the Scary Movie horror parody series to bring a Scary Movie 6 to theatres sometime in 2025, with the Wayans Brothers back in creative control – and that announcement has inspired us to go back and revisit the earlier entries in the franchise. Now we’re up to the 2006 sequel Scary Movie 4, and you can hear all about it in the video embedded above.

Directed by David Zucker from a screenplay by Craig Mazin, Jim Abrahams, and Pat Proft, Scary Movie 4 has the following synopsis: Dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her sex-crazed friend, Brenda, team up with cute-but-clueless Tom Ryan to save the world from a hostile alien invasion, with hints of War of the Worlds, Saw II, Million Dollar Baby and The Village.

The cast includes Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Leslie Nielsen, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Kevin Hart,...

Producer Paul Maslansky, who came up with the premise for the first Police Academy movie and got help from three world-class directors to push the troubled cult classic Return to Oz past the finish line, has died. He was 91.

Maslansky died Monday of natural causes at a hospital in Los Robles, California, his partner of 16 years, Sally Emr, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The New Yorker made his producing debut in Italy on The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), starring Christopher Lee, and he filmed George Cukor’s penultimate feature, the Elizabeth Taylor-starring The Blue Bird (1976), and Fred Schepisi’s The Russia House (1990), starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, in the Soviet Union.

Maslansky, who collaborated often with Oscar winner Alan Ladd Jr., also produced Larry Peerce’s Love Child (1982), starring Amy Madigan in the true story of a woman who is impregnated by a guard in prison and has...

Paul Maslansky, the acclaimed film producer behind the popular Police Academy comedy series, died on Friday at 91. Pat Proft, the writer of the first Police Academy film, acknowledged his death, ending his famous Hollywood career.

Maslansky, born on November 23, 1933, in New York City, had a diverse career spanning decades and cinematic genres. While he is most known for the Police Academy series, which premiered in 1984, his career demonstrates a wide range of talent.

Maslansky made several significant films, including cult favourites like The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), Race with the Devil (1975), Damnation Alley (1977), and Return to Oz (1985). His later works were The Russia House (1990), Cop & 1/2 (1993), and Fluke (1995).

Before his success with the Police Academy films, Maslansky received critical recognition for his 1978 limited series King, which centred on Martin Luther King Jr. and earned him an Emmy nomination. However, the Police Academy franchise cemented his place in popular culture.

Paul Maslansky, the producer behind the Police Academy franchise, died December 2. He was 91.

The Emmy nominee’s death was announced by Police Academy (1984) writer Pat Proft in a heartfelt statement on Friday, recounting their work together on Proft’s first film, which launched six sequels and two series, one animated and one live-action.

“Thankful for meeting Paul Maslansky,” wrote Proft on Facebook. “He hired me and Neal Israel to research and write Police Academy. First film I ever wrote. Paul has passed away. Sally and his son.. sorry for your loss. He left behind a trail of comedies. Good life.”

Born Nov. 23, 1933, in New York City, Maslansky produced such films as The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), Race with the Devil (1975), Damnation Alley (1977), Return to Oz (1985), The Russia House (1990), Cop & 1/2 (1993) and Fluke (1995).

After his 1978 Martin Luther King Jr. limited series King was nominated for an Emmy, Maslansky found success with 1984’s Police Academy.

Jim Abrahams, one of the writers and directors behind some of the greatest and most quotable spoof and slapstick comedies of the 20th century — including Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and Hot Shots! — died Tuesday, Nov. 26, Variety reports. He was 80.

Abrahams’ son, Joseph, confirmed his death. No cause of death was given.

Abrahams spent the bulk of his career working alongside his two childhood friends, brothers David and Jerry Zucker. Jerry Zucker, in a statement shared with Rolling Stone, called Abrahams “our third brother.”

He continued: “He had a rebellious streak that drove him.

Filmmaker Jim Abrahams, whose work includes co-directing the iconic comedy movie Airplane!, has passed away.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jim Abrahams died on Tuesday at his home in Santa Monica, California. According to his son, Joseph, the filmmaker's passing was due to natural causes. He was 80 years old.

Abrahams has long been known for his work on several popular slapstick comedy movies. He frequently collaborated with filmmaking brothers Jerry and David Zucker, and the trio co-wrote John Landis' 1977 comedy Kentucky Fried Movie. They followed this up by co-writing and co-directing Airplane!, the 1980 spoof of disaster movies starring Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, and Robert Stack.

With a budget of less than $4 million, the comedy earned over $171 million at the box office. The film also won a WGA Award for Best Adapted Comedy. It is still remembered fondly as one of the best slapstick comedies ever made, often quoted by...

Jim Abrahams, who co-wrote and co-directed Airplane and a number of other comedy movies with Jerry and David Zucker, has died. Abrahams' son confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the filmmaker died of natural causes in his Santa Monica home on Tuesday. He was 80 years old.

Abrahams was born in...

Eleven years have gone by since the release of a new entry in the Scary Movie horror parody series – but the franchise isn’t going to remain dormant for much longer. Back in April, it was announced that the Miramax label at Paramount, which is now operating under new boss Jonathan Glickman, had given the greenlight to a new Scary Movie sequel, with the plan being to get the film into theatres sometime in 2025. We recently learned that the series is being revived with the help of the people who got it started in the first place: the Wayans Brothers – and now Regina Hall, who played the character Brenda Meeks in the first four movies, has said she thinks it would be fun to come back and work on the new sequel with the Wayans.

Directed by In Living Color creator Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay written by a bunch of people,...

Eleven years have gone by since the release of a new entry in the Scary Movie horror parody series – but the franchise isn’t going to remain dormant for much longer, and it’s being revived with the help of the people who got it started in the first place: the Wayans Brothers! Back in April, it was announced that the Miramax label at Paramount, which is now operating under new boss Jonathan Glickman, had given the greenlight to a new Scary Movie sequel, with the plan being to get the film into theatres sometime in 2025. That announcement didn’t include any mention of writers or a director – but now Deadline has revealed that Scary Movie 6 marks the return of the Wayans Brothers to the franchise. They haven’t been involved with the Scary Movie series since the second movie.

Scary Movie was developed by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans,...

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Trouble is a Swedish action crime comedy film directed by Jon Holmberg who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tapio Leopold. The Netflix film follows the story of a clumsy divorced electronic salesman who is wrongfully convicted of murder and sent to prison. To prove his innocence he escapes from prison with other convicts. Trouble stars Filip Berg, Amy Deasismont, Eva Melander, Måns Nathanaelson, Dejan Čukić, Joakim Sällquist, and Sissela Benn. So, if you loved the blend of crime and comedy, compelling characters, and a thrilling story in Netflix’s Trouble here are some similar movies you should check out next.

The Lovebirds (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Netflix

The Lovebirds is a romantic crime comedy film directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay co-written by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall. The 2020 film revolves around a young couple...

With Paramount and Miramax announcing their plans to revive the iconic Scary Movie horror parody series with a new installment in 2025, we’ve been inspired to revisit the earlier films in the franchise. Last month, we delved into Scary Movie 2, and today, we’re turning our attention to the Waynes Brother-less Scary Movie 3 (available to watch Here) and get the Revisited treatment.

Directed by David Zucker from a screenplay written by Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, Scary Movie 3 has the following synopsis: Cindy must investigate mysterious crop circles and video tapes, and help the President in preventing an alien invasion.

The film stars Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Regina Hall, Jenny McCarthy, Pamela Anderson, Simon Rex, and Leslie Nielsen.

The Scary Movie 3 episode of Revisited was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Tyler Nichols, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

What...

Anna Faris is open to returning for the Scary Movie reboot, with Regina Hall's return and money being her main conditions. The future horror-comedy reboot could focus on new characters, allowing for a potential return of original actors Faris and Hall to pass the torch, as the recent Scream franchise revival did. Given the recent Scream movies have also kept the legacy characters in danger, the Scary Movie reboot could also deliver a fun twist in killing off Faris and Hall's characters.

After having led the first four movies in the franchise, Anna Faris reveals her conditions to return for the Scary Movie reboot. Originally developed by Keenen Ivory, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, the movie series has served as a parody of some of the biggest horror movies of their respective years, ranging from the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer-driven first movie to House on Haunted Hill,...

After years of rumors and speculation, Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot looks like it is finally heading into production. Set to be directed by The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer, and written by Dan Gregor and Doug Man, fans expect a lot from this reboot. While many have tried (and failed) to update the franchise, and it’s hard to imagine anyone stepping into Leslie Nielsen’s iconic shoes at Lt. Frank Drebin, it’s pretty interesting that the team pairing on this is the same one that teamed on Disney’s much better than expected reboot of Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. All involved are really funny, so if anyone could make this work, it’s them. With a release date tentatively set for July 18th, 2025, here’s everything we know about the Naked Gun reboot.

Liam Neeson will be the star.

While some may wonder why Liam Neeson,...

The Naked Gun is getting a reboot that will reimagine the classic comedy movie series with Liam Neeson in the lead. More cast members are now starting to get announced as the project prepares for production.

Per THR, Paul Walter Hauser has joined the cast of The Naked Gun. The actor's role has also been revealed, as it's noted that he's playing Captain Ed, the character played by George Kennedy in the original films. He will star alongside Neeson, who's playing Frank Drebin, a new incarnation of Leslie Nielsen's character. Pamela Anderson has also been cast for the movie as a love interest for Neeson's Frank Drebin. THR has also revealed that Kevin Durand has joined the cast alongside Hauser to play one of the villains.

2:02

Related 15 Best Liam Neeson Movies Since Taken Many know Liam Neeson as the face of the Taken trilogy. Since then, he's been...

It's a busy old time for Paul Walter Hauser – with good reason, since he's been putting in excellent, memorable and award-winning performances in a variety of films and shows. He's now attached to another big title, joining Liam Neeson in the cast of Paramount's new spin on The Naked Gun.

The 1988 original saw David Zucker, brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and co-writer Pat Proft turn their short-lived comedy series Police Squad! into a movie. It was an instant comedy hit, Leslie Nielsen's iconic central performance cementing his transformation from dramatic actor to comedy legend as Detective Frank Drebin.

Two sequels followed to diminishing returns (though there are still good gags to be enjoyed in both), but we started to hear rumours of a remake in development years ago. That went through a few versions — Ed Helms was attached to star for while — and more recently, Seth MacFarlane has been involved,...

David Zucker is not involved at all in The Naked Gun reboot. Zucker feels Paramount made a mistake in not using his script, and doesn't expect the new film to be impactful. New Naked Gun to feature Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand scripting the movie.

The Naked Gun fans may be quietly hopeful that Liam Neeson’s reboot of the comedy franchise will be a worthy successor to the Leslie Nielsen franchise, but one person who doesn’t share their enthusiasm is original director David Zucker. The reboot of The Naked Gun has been on the cards for some time, and at one point it was Zucker who was set to return to helm the movie with his own script, which was co-written with Pat Proft and Mike McManus. Since that film was retooled into the Akiva Schaffer film that is heading into production soon,...

David Zucker, who directed the first two movies of the Naked Gun franchise, isn't thrilled about Paramount's upcoming reboot starring Liam Neeson. The director has confirmed that he has had no involvement whatsoever with the Naked Gun reboot, and he hasn't gotten a single phone call from the new filmmakers.

"Paramount is just going ahead and doing it. They haven't involved me," Zucker told TMZ in a new interview. "We were not excited about having the franchise given to other people. At the time, I couldn't believe it because we thought we had a great script, and they loved the script from what we heard. I don't have any control over it. I'm not involved, and they haven't asked me for my help. It's completely their concept, and they're just going to go ahead and do it. They have not contacted me to make a cameo or be involved with the writing.

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,...

Eleven years have gone by since the release of a new entry in the Scary Movie horror parody series – but the franchise isn’t going to remain dormant for much longer. Deadline reports that the Miramax label at Paramount, which is now operating under new boss Jonathan Glickman, has given the greenlight to a new Scary Movie sequel, with the plan being to get the film into theatres sometime in 2025. If any writers or a director are attached to the project, they weren’t named in this announcement.

Directed by In Living Color creator Keenen Ivory Wayans from a screenplay written by a bunch of people, the first Scary Movie was released by Dimension Films back in 2000. Scary Movie 2 was released in 2001, and the Wayans remained at the head of the creative team for that one. Keenen Ivory Wayans directed it from a screenplay credited to Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans,...

Leslie Nielsen famously flipped his career 180 degrees when he started working with the Zuckers — David and Jerry — on the 1980 comedy Airplane! Nielsen was a seasoned dramatic actor who took his serious demeanor and used it to deliver the silliest of lines in a dry manner, resulting in some of the greatest comedy performances. Nielsen was able to become a leading man late in his career in The Naked Gun series, which would then spin him off into more leading roles in similar comedies, which would not necessarily be made by the Zuckers.

Enter Liam Neeson. The thespian has already reinvented himself when the former dramatic actor starred in 2008’s Taken, which showed that he could use his tall stature in the action genre. Neeson’s acting route would eventually land him in some comedy roles, including a self-parody guest spot on Life’s Too Short and working with Seth MacFarlane on...

Liam Neeson seems content putting his Star Wars Jedi adventuring days behind him.

In a recent ScreenRant interview, the Phantom Menace actor revealed whether he'd consider coming back as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn somehow, be it in live-action or cartoon form. Though he briefly returned as a Force Ghost in Obi-Wan Kenobi opposite co-star Ewan McGregor and "enjoyed very much being with Ewan and George Lucas on The Phantom Menace," Neeson felt it was time to move on from that character on the live-action side. "We shot that 26 years ago! Would I do it again? I don't think so," he said, adding that he's "too f***ing old, ya know? I can't see the situation, I really can't, you know?"

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, also revealing why they aren't involved.

It was announced all the way back in 2022 that Paramount was going to be remaking "Naked Gun" with Liam Neeson as the star. There was little movement on the project in terms of additional cast members or a projected release window throughout all of 2023, leading many to believe the film had been scrapped or entered a new circle of Hollywood production hell. While many view the "Naked Gun" films as sacred comedy texts that dare not be remade, it's happening, and there's a pretty incredible team behind it. The "Naked Gun" films famously changed the trajectory of star Leslie Nielsen's career, so perhaps the new film could do the same for the gruff, action antics of Neeson. We're still quite a ways away from the release of the film, so here's everything you need to know about the upcoming remake.

Read more: The 15 Best Comedy Duos Of All Time...

The Naked Gun, also known as Police Squad!, is an American crime spoof-comedy franchise. Having started in 1982 with the TV series Police Squad! aired on the ABC Network, the franchise includes one TV series and three movies, adapted from an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Jim Abrahams, and brothers David and Jerry Zucker.

The lead role of Detective Sergeant Franklin ‘Frank’ Drebin in The Naked Gun is played by the late actor Leslie Nielsen. Several other characters appear in the films. One of them is Detective Fred Nordberg, who is portrayed by O. J. Simpson. Recently, creator David Zucker revealed why he had Simpson play the role of Nordberg.

A still from The Naked Gun (1988)

David Zucker on Why O. J. Simpson Was Cast in the Role of Detective Nordberg

O. J. Simpson is a former football running back who played in the NFL for 11 seasons. He...

It’s definite: there’s a new The Naked Gun film on the way, and Paramount has given it a summer 2025 release date. More here.

Well, this has been a long, long, long time coming. We’ve covered before Paramount Pictures’ attempt to get fourth The Naked Gun film moving. At first with the late Leslie Nielsen involved, and then after he passed, for a while it looked like Ed Helms was going to take on the lead role.

Now, it seems that Liam Neeson is to play the son of Nielsen’s Lieutenant Frank Drebin in whatever the new The Naked Gun movie ends up being called.

I’m one of many who’s not been won over yet by the idea of a new The Naked Gun film, but on the flip side, there are some positives. Notably the personnel behind the camera: Akiva Schaffer has previously directed...

The Naked Gun reboot is about to make 2025 a good year.

Paramount Pictures announced release dates Wednesday for a number of upcoming films. This includes director Akiva Schaffer’s new untitled installment in the Naked Gun comedy franchise hitting theaters July 18, 2025. The movie, first announced back in 2022, stars Liam Neeson and includes Seth MacFarlane as a producer.

The studio also announced that Paw Patrol 3 will launch July 31, 2026, as a follow-up to the studio’s September sequel Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie that topped $200 million globally. The new film hails from Spin Master Entertainment in association with Nickelodeon Movies. Another animation feature — director Jeff Rowe’s Tmnt 2 — is set for Oct. 9, 2026, as a follow-up to the filmmaker’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which came out last August and collected $180 million worldwide.

Among other titles landing on the studio’s calendar is Novocaine starring Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder,...

The Naked Gun remake has gotten its release date.

Per Variety, it's been revealed that the long-gestating Naked Gun remake will be released in theaters by Paramount on July 15, 2025. The film, which doesn't yet have an official title, serves as a reboot of the Naked Gun franchise which originally starred Leslie Nielsen. Taken and Star Wars icon Liam Neeson will lead the cast of the remake, which was co-written by director Akiva Schaffter alongside Dan gregor and Doug Man. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is producing with Fuzzy Door partner Erica Huggins.

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Related 10 Best Liam Neeson Movies Since Taken Many know Liam Neeson as the face of the Taken trilogy. Since then, he's been in a host of other movies that show his skills as an action actor.

The new Naked Gun movie will have some stiff competition when it debuts in theaters. It will be competing directly against...

One cannot understate the strange cultural dominance Hugh Wilson's 1984 comedy "Police Academy" held over the pop zeitgeist throughout the 1980s. Clearly a child of "Animal House," "Police Academy" was a traditional snobs-vs.-slobs comedy that pitted winking wiseacres against their stern commanding officers at a police school in an unnamed city. I've long had a theory that the "Police Academy" movies take place in Metropolis, the city where Superman lives. With Superman taking care of major crimes, the local police force would likely become complacent, unused to enforcing the law. 

None of the "Police Academy" movies were well-reviewed, recognized by critics as crass, dumb, and low-brow. This is a series that banks on misogyny, offensive stereotypes, and a lot of crotch/sex humor. There is no wit to the "Police Academy" movies. Roger Ebert famously gave the first film zero stars, citing merely how dreadfully unfunny and uninspired it is.

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...

Seth Macfarlane has confirmed that the new The Naked Gun has survived the chaos of last year’s strikes and is still in development.

In 2021, it was announced that Seth Macfarlane would be taking on a reboot/remake of The Naked Gun films, the beloved police spoofs that starred the great Leslie Nielsen (for which there was once an official fourth movie planned too – we wrote about here). None other than Liam Neeson was attached to star (after Ed Helms had been linked for years) and we all sat back to see just what would unfold.

Even Liam Neeson himself seemed somewhat bemused by the turn of events, stating “It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.”

Things moved pretty slowly throughout 2022 and then in 2023 we had months of chaos as the strikes in Hollywood sank lots of projects that were in development.

The original Naked Gun director and writer express disappointment over a reboot with Liam Neeson and feel they should be the ones involved. Paramount passed on their version of Naked Gun 4 in favor of the reboot, which is heading in a completely different direction. Due to strikes, the production of the Naked Gun reboot has been delayed, and it's uncertain where it currently stands, although the original writer and director will not be involved.

The original Naked Gun director David Zucker and writer Pat Proft explain why a fourth film failed to develop, and why they're upset about the reboot with Liam Neeson. Based on the Police Squad! TV series, the original Naked Gun trilogy was released from 1988 to 1994 following the comedic exploits of the incompetent police detective, Lt. Frank Drebin, played by Leslie Nielsen. As of 2022, a reboot starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. has been in active development.

The Naked Gun franchise reboot is not impressing the original creators who feel excluded from the project. The original script for Naked Gun 4 was rejected due to a minor joke, leading to Seth MacFarlane taking over the reboot. Despite not being used in the new film, the original creators are repurposing their script into an original movie called Counterintelijence.

The upcoming reboot of The Naked Gun sounds like it could tickle the funny bones of many moviegoers, but it hasn’t exactly enamored itself to the original movie’s creators. As a shining example of late ‘80s and ‘90s slapstick and innuendo-packed comedies, The Naked Gun franchise did not concern itself with anything other than making a large audience laugh with its ridiculous visual humor and wordplay. Now it seems that Liam Neeson is set to step into the shoes of Leslie Neilsen, playing Lt. Frank Drebin’s son in...

Writer Pat Proft says he’s “blocked” from Naked Gun 4, as he and director David Zucker discuss the planned sequel.

The original The Naked Gun film, starring the much-missed Leslie Nielsen, is remarkably celebrating its 35th birthday. And The Hollywood Reporter has celebrated in time honoured fashioned by chatting to some of the team behind it.

Specifically, co-writer and director David Zucker, and co-writer Pat Proft.

The full piece is here, and there’s much to munch on for the (many) fans of the original film. But towards the end, talk turns to the planned fourth Naked Gun film, that Paramount has in development.

The current plan for Naked Gun 4, which it won’t be called, is for Liam Neeson to play Frank Drebin, with Seth McFarlane producing and the terrific Akiva Schaffer (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) directing.

See also: Naked Gun 4 | The story of the lost sequel, featuring...

Created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the TV series Police Squad! only ran for six episodes back in 1982, but it spawned a popular film franchise that so far consists of three films: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, The Naked Gun 21⁄2: The Smell of Fear, and Naked Gun 331⁄3: The Final Insult, all three of which had Pat Proft on board as a screenwriter. When it was announced that a straight-to-video sequel called The Naked Gun 4: Rhythm of Evil was moving ahead in 2009 with none of the original creative team involved, that original creative team didn’t react well. That movie didn’t make it into production, but now that a reboot of The Naked Gun is moving forward at Paramount with Akiva Schaffer set to direct the film from a screenplay by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Mark Hentemann, Alec Sulkin, and producer Seth MacFarlane,...

The original creative team behind The Naked Gun has shared the story behind why they are not involved with Paramount's upcoming reboot.

Previously, it had been reported that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane was producing a reboot of The Naked Gun starring action movie favorite Liam Neeson. In a new interview with THR, some of the members of the franchise's original creative team revealed their frustrations with the new film. David Zucker, who co-created the franchise and directed the first two films, explained how he was joined by original Naked Gun writer Pat Proft and fellow screenwriter Mike McManus to actually write a script for Naked Gun 4, and that things were actually looking good for the project before an unnamed Paramount executive took issue with a "mild" risqué joke.

"Pat, Mike and I wrote a script for Naked Gun 4, and we heard Jon Gonda at Paramount had read the...