We live in the era of movie and televison remakes and sometimes they’re pretty good, but sometimes they miss the mark completely. There are certain movies and TV shows that shouldn’t be rebooted because they were just too good the first time around. Over the years we’ve seen remakes of The Pink Panther, Star Trek, Tomb Raider, IT, Spider Man, Ghostbusters, Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, and Candyman, among others. On Television, shows like Frasier, Night Court, Fuller House, and Hawaii Five-0 have been (or were) rebooted, bringing in a completely new audience and making older audiences reminisce about the original series.
This week it has been announced that a Naked Gun reboot will proceed with Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr., originally played by Regina-born Leslie Nielsen. The first movie, “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad,” was released in December 1988 and co-starred O.J. Simpson, George Kennedy, Ricardo Montalban, and Priscilla Presley as Drebin’s love interest. The movie was a box office hit thanks to the deadpan slapstick style comedy the movie delivered. It hauled in over $152 million worldwide at theatres and critics praised the writing, calling it one of the greatest comedy movies of all time. Two more Naked Gun movies would be made with Leslie Nielsen reprising the role of Frank Drebin – “The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear” in 1991 and “The Naked Gun” 33 1/3: The Final Insult” in 1994, which co-starred Anna Nicole Smith. Each movie spawned so many classic and hilarious one liners that only Leslie Nielsen could deliver in that iconic deadpan tone. I’m proud to say I own all three movies, two of which are on VHS tapes! The Naked Gun movies are the kind that never fail to make a person chuckle regardless of how many times you’ve watched it and are especially helpful on days when you’re under the weather.
Paramount Pictures has decided to move ahead with a “Naked Gun” reboot with Family Guy’s Seth McFarlane serving as a producer on the movie. Not many other details have been provided in terms of storyline and fellow actors, but a release date of July 28th, 2025 has been announced.
