We’re getting another Naked Gun movie! No, there’s nothing you can do about it. A follow-up to the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker cop comedies has been in the works since at least 2009, passing through many hands. At one point The Hangover‘s Ed Helms was going to take the lead, with a script by Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant (Night at the Museum). Instead, we’re getting none other than gruff geriactioner legend Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., son of the character made famous by the late and much-missed Leslie Nielsen.
If that sounds like your jam, mark your calendar, because The Naked Gun is screening in New Zealand cinemas from July 31, 2025.
Born out of the ashes of the little seen (and now rightfully revered) 1982 comedy series Police Squad!, The Naked Gun is a superlatively silly franchise. Created by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrams, the lunatics behind Airplane! and Top Secret!, and anchored by the deadpan Leslie Nielsen, the three extant films take a scattershot approach to comedy, packing every scene with sight gags and silly dialogue, never letting a moment pass without some weird slice of absurdity assaulting our senses, and certainly never letting logic and plausibility get in the way of a laugh. They’re lowbrow stuff, sure, but brilliantly lowbrow, and they cemented Nielsen, formerly a “serious” actor, in the comedy pantheon.
This new iteration, alternatively titled The Naked Gun 4 1⁄4: Law of Toughness, comes to us from director Akiva Schaffer, with a story by Family Guy and American Dad! creator Seth McFarlane, and a laundry list of screenwriters: Schaffer, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Mark Hentemann, and Alec Sulkin. In addition to Neeson, expect to see Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, and Busta Rhymes in supporting roles.
Will it be any good? Excellent question. Liam Neeson takes the same deadpan, unblinking approach to comedy that Leslie Nielsen did, so that’s a plus, and McFarlane’s got chops, but the number of screenwriters rings a few alarm bells. Add to that, we don’t have a trailer to dissect as yet—not even a publicity still (that’s why ol’ Leslie is in the header image). But here, have the most perfectly written joke in the history of comedy.
