Tag: Police Squad!

Oscar Predictions: The Naked Gun

Arriving over 30 years after the Leslie Nielsen trilogy of outrageous slapstick comedies, Akiva Schaffer’s The Naked Gun reboot blasts off in theaters Friday. Liam Neeson stars as Frank Drebin’s son with Pamela Anderson as his love interest (which reportedly translated to real life). Costars include Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, and Danny Huston.

1988’s original (which was based on the short-lived but acclaimed TV show Police Squad!) was the critical darling of the series with the two follow-ups generally judged as inferior. Reviews for 2025’s installment are impressive with critics lauding its joke-a-minute landing percentage. It’s at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and 78 on Metacritic.

I’m not saying Gun will be an Oscar contender. The Golden Globes? Maybe that’s a possibility. The critical reaction is sturdy enough that a nom in Best Musical/Comedy and Neeson in Actor (Musical/Comedy) doesn’t appear out of the question. My Oscar (and Globe) prediction posts will continue…

The Naked Gun Box Office Prediction

After three decades plus of dormancy, a comedy franchise gets its reboot on August 1st via The Naked Gun. The legacy sequel casts Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (son of Leslie Nielsen’s bumbling lawman) with Akiva Schaffer directing. Costars include Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, and Liza Koshy.

With Seth MacFarlane producing, Gun has been in development for over a decade. 1988’s original from the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team (based on the short-lived but acclaimed Police Squad! TV series) is considered a genre classic. Further installments in 1991 and 1994 didn’t quite hit the funny bone bullseye, but managed to perform well at the box office.

Younger viewers may not have much familiarity with the series. Others could reject Mr. Neeson outside of his action thriller comfort zone. However, an effective trailer should help and advance word-of-mouth is encouraging. Comedies have struggled in recent years at multiplexes with many going the streaming route instead. Anything above $25 million would be an accomplishment. I’ll say low to mid 20s is more doable and that’s still a win for Paramount.

The Naked Gun opening weekend prediction: $22.3 million

For my The Bad Guys 2 prediction, click here:

The Bad Guys 2 Box Office Prediction

For my Together prediction, click here:

Together Box Office Prediction