The Naked Gun | |
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Created by | Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker |
Original work | Police Squad! (1982) |
Owner | Paramount Global |
Films and television | |
Film(s) | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994) The Naked Gun (2025) |
Television series | Police Squad! (1982) |
Miscellaneous | |
Starring |
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Budget | $65 million[ citation needed ](Total of 3 films) |
Box office | $477 million (Total of 3 films) |
The Naked Gun media franchise, consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one television series and three theatrical films. The plot centers on a police detective with a lot of heart, despite being less-than intelligent. Leslie Nielsen stars in each installment in the protagonist role of Detective Sergeant Franklin "Frank" Drebin, with a fourth film starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. scheduled for release in 2025. The franchise was met with mostly positive critical reception, [1] [2] [3] and the films were a financial box office success.
An American crime spoof-comedy television series that was broadcast through the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network in 1982. The series starred Leslie Nielsen in the first franchise instalment as Franklin "Frank" Drebin, and was co-created/written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Parodying police procedurals, the series featured the use of sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs. Although the show was cancelled after six episodes, it was later followed by the successful film series, and in 2013 TV Guide ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". [4]
Title | U.S. release date | Director | Screenwriters | Story by | Producer(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | December 2, 1988 | David Zucker | Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Pat Proft | Robert K. Weiss | |
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | June 28, 1991 | David Zucker & Pat Proft | |||
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | March 18, 1994 | Peter Segal | Pat Proft and David Zucker & Robert LoCash | Robert K. Weiss and David Zucker | |
The Naked Gun | July 18, 2025 | Akiva Schaffer | Akiva Schaffer and Dan Gregor & Doug Mand and Mark Hentemann & Alec Sulkin and Seth MacFarlane | Seth MacFarlane | Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins |
Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) tries to uncover a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a state visit to the USA. The main suspect is Vincent Ludwig, a rich businessman (Ricardo Montalbán), who uses a hypnotic device to turn others into murderers. As with previous ZAZ spoof comedies, the plot was mostly culled from another—more serious—movie. In this case, it was Telefon wherein people were triggered into assassins via hypnotic phone calls (indeed, dialogue in the post-hypnotic suggestion demonstration scene is copied word-for-word from Telefon). On the case, Drebin falls in love with Ludwig's assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). She knows nothing about Ludwig's plot, and after the pair spends the night together, Jane helps with Frank's investigation.
Frank discovers that Jane's new boyfriend, Quentin Hapsburg (Robert Goulet), is involved in an evil plan to kidnap Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer (Richard Griffiths), a scientist whom President George H. W. Bush (John Roarke) has chosen to determine a new national energy policy. Hapsburg plans to kidnap the real Dr. Meinheimer and replace him with a lookalike named Earl Hacker (also portrayed by Griffiths) who will endorse an energy policy according to the dictates of the energy lobby.
In the third film of the series, Frank is married to Jane, and he has retired from Police Squad. The film introduces the criminal Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward), who is stuck in prison. He is contacted by someone called Papshmir to be given a target for a bombing. Frank is pulled out of retirement. He goes undercover pretending to be a prisoner named "Nick 'the Slasher' McGurk Jr., III" at the jail where Dillon is being held, and they break out of jail. Outside they are escorted by Dillon's gangster mother (Kathleen Freeman) to his country retreat, where Frank also meets Rocco's voluptuous moll (Anna Nicole Smith). The gang plots to blow up the Academy Awards. When Jane arrives looking for Frank, she is taken hostage.
In 2009, it was revealed that a fourth movie starring Leslie Nielsen was coming out as a direct-to-TV sequel, and that it was going to be about Frank training a young rookie. The film was given the title The Naked Gun 4: Rhythm of Evil. The script was written by Alan Spencer. The original writers of the first movie, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team tried to stop it from happening. According to Alan Spencer, he signed on to write the film as a “rescue mission” to save an inferior sequel from happening. The script impressed the Paramount executives that it was briefly moved to development for theatrical release. Spencer wrote a sizable role for Leslie Nielsen, who would be passing the torch to a new generation of incompetent cops, but the studio asked him to reduce Nielsen's part to a cameo for budgetary reasons, before opting to remove the character altogether. Spencer left the project following the request and the movie entered development hell, ultimately never being realized. [5] [6] [7]
In December 2013, Paramount Pictures announced that a reboot of The Naked Gun franchise was in development with Ed Helms cast in the role of Frank Drebin, while the script was being co-written by Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant. [8] By January 2014, Garant revealed that the working title of the project is "Episode IV: A New Hope", while announcing that it is intended to be a sequel to the original films. Helms was intended to portray a character that introduces himself as "Frank Drebin, no relation" so that the movie can introduce a new protagonist without contradicting what came before. [9] In March 2015, David Zucker stated that he was offered a producing role on the project, but had denied being involved as he felt like it would differ in comedic style and ultimately be inferior to his original films. [10] [11] In August 2015, Helms confirmed that the script was still being written, while acknowledging the concerns that Zucker had with modern-day audience reception, and a need for something other than the spoof genre of the previous movies. [12] By March 2017, a re-write of the script was being completed by David Zucker and Pat Proft, with the plot being reworked to feature the son of Frank Drebin. [13]
In January 2021, it was announced that Seth MacFarlane had been hired to further develop the project. After MacFarlane had previously expressed interest in casting Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in 2015, the filmmaker was hired by the studio. Neeson revealed that the filmmaker alongside Paramount Pictures had approached him with a pitch to star in the movie. [14] [15] In June of the same year, Neeson stated that MacFarlane was working on a new draft of the script, with the studio additionally negotiating the filmmaker's potential role as director. He expressed excitement for the project and the opportunity to explore a more comedic role, should he decide to star in the movie; while stating that development on the project is ongoing. [16] In February 2022, Neeson again confirmed that Paramount is still courting him to star in the legacy sequel. [17]
In October 2022, the film was officially greenlit with Neeson in the lead role. Directed by Akiva Schaffer, Dan Gregor, and Doug Mand, who were also hired to write a new draft of the script from a previous draft with contributions from Mark Hentemann and Alec Sulkin. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins will serve as producers, with a production start date pending. The project will be a joint-venture production between Paramount and Fuzzy Door Productions. [18] Principal photography was tentatively scheduled for summer 2023. [19] MacFarlane revealed in January 2024 that production will take place later that year. [20] The film is scheduled for release on July 18, 2025. [21] Principal photography is scheduled to run from May to June 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. [22]
The Naked Gun: ICUP, a point and click and adventure game, was released by Gamecentric Media and Paramount in 2011. [23] The story and concept were penned by Robert LoCash, a writer of the third Naked Gun film. A press release by Gamecentric about the read "Spoofing modern crime dramas and lampooning popular video games, THE NAKED GUN: ICUP is designed as a continuation of the classic film franchise for the digital age. The game will be serialized over six episodes starting this fall with a new episode debuting monthly. Each episode will be fully voice-acted by top Hollywood talent to deliver a classic story-driven adventure supported by the itemized incentive structure of current popular social network games." [24] Due to Leslie Nielsen's death in 2010, voice actor A.J. LoCascio took over as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the original character. The game received an average score of 60 on the review aggregator Metacritic. [25]
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in notable roles.
Title | Crew/Detail | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Composer | Cinematographer | Editor(s) | Production companies | Distributing company | Running time | ||
Police Squad! | Ira Newborn | Sherman Kunkel | Tom Benko, and Malcolm Campbell | Paramount Television | American Broadcasting Company, CBS Television Distribution | 144 minutes (24 mins/episodes) | |
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | Robert M. Stevens | Michael Jablow | Paramount Pictures Corp. [26] | Paramount | 85 minutes | ||
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear | Christopher Greenbury & James R. Symons | Paramount Pictures, Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker Productions [27] | Paramount Pictures Corporation | ||||
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | James R. Symons | Paramount Pictures | 83 minutes | ||||
The Naked Gun | TBA | TBA | TBA | Paramount Pictures, Fuzzy Door Productions | Paramount Pictures | TBA |
Film | US/Canada gross | International gross | Total gross |
---|---|---|---|
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | $78,756,177 [28] | $73,689,000 [29] | $152,445,177 |
The Naked Gun 2+1⁄2: The Smell of Fear | $86,930,411 [30] | $105,310,000 [29] [31] | $192,240,411 |
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | $51,132,598 [32] | $81,273,000 [29] | $132,405,598 |
Total | $216,819,186 | $260,272,000 | $477,091,186 |
Title | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore [33] |
---|---|---|---|
Police Squad! | 90% (31 reviews) [34] | — | — |
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | 87% (54 reviews) [1] | 76 (13 reviews) [35] | A− |
The Naked Gun 2+1⁄2: The Smell of Fear | 57% (40 reviews) [2] | 65 (21 reviews) [36] | B+ |
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult | 54% (35 reviews) [3] | 63 (21 reviews) [37] | B+ |
Airplane! is a 1980 American disaster comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. It is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows its plot, central characters, and some dialogue. It also draws many elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport series. It is known for its use of surreal humor and fast-paced slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns, gags, running jokes, and dark humor.
Leslie William Nielsen was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming.
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by David Zucker, and produced and released by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin, who sets out to uncover a criminal plot involving people being mind controlled to assassinate targets. Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalbán, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson also star in supporting roles.
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. MacFarlane is well known as the creator and star of the television series Family Guy and The Orville (2017–2022), and co-creator of the television series American Dad! and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013). He also co-wrote, directed, and starred in the films Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).
Police Squad! is an American television crime comedy series that was broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. A spoof of police procedurals and many other television shows and movies, the series features Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay, and non sequiturs. It resembles the Lee Marvin police show M Squad and the late 1960s series Felony Squad. It was canceled after six episodes, and yielded The Naked Gun film series from 1988 to 1994.
David Samuel Zucker is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with Jim Abrahams and his brother Jerry as part of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, with whom he wrote and directed the 1980 film Airplane! and created The Naked Gun franchise. As a solo filmmaker, Zucker also directed Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006).
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear is a 1991 American crime comedy film. It is the sequel to the 1988 film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! and the second installment in The Naked Gun film series. The film stars Leslie Nielsen as the comically bumbling Police Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad!. Priscilla Presley plays the role of Jane, with O. J. Simpson as Nordberg and George Kennedy as police captain Ed Hocken. The film also features Robert Goulet as the villainous Quentin Hapsburg and Richard Griffiths as renewable fuel advocate Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer. Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mel Tormé and members of the Chicago Bears have cameo roles.
James S. Abrahams is an American film director and writer, best known as a member of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
Pat Proft is an American comedy writer, actor, and director. Born in Minnesota in 1947, Proft began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis in the mid-1960s. He went on to perform as a one-man comedy act in the late 1960s. In 1972, Proft began working at The Comedy Store in Hollywood which led to work in television and film writing for the Smothers Brothers and Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
Wrongfully Accused is a 1998 satirical comedy film written, produced and directed by Pat Proft and starring Leslie Nielsen as a man who has been framed for murder and desperately attempts to expose the true culprits. The film is a parody of the 1993 film The Fugitive, and also parodies numerous other films. This was Richard Crenna's final film before his death in 2003.
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult is a 1994 American crime comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by Pat Proft, David Zucker and Robert LoCash. The film is the third and final installment in The Naked Gun film series, which was based on the television series Police Squad!. The Final Insult is the only film in the series that is not directed by David Zucker, with him serving as producer and co-writer instead. Police Squad! co-creators Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker returned as executive producers.
Franklin "Frank" Drebin is a fictional character in the Police Squad! television series and The Naked Gun movies played by Leslie Nielsen.
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"Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)" is the third episode produced (but fifth episode broadcast) of the short-lived TV series Police Squad!. The episode was directed by Reza Badiyi and written by Nancy Steen and Neil Thompson. As usual, the episode was produced by Robert K. Weiss.
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The Naked Gun is an upcoming American crime comedy film directed by Akiva Schaffer, from a screenplay by Schaffer, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Mark Hentemann, and Alec Sulkin, from an original story by Seth MacFarlane. Serving as the fourth film, and fifth overall installment in The Naked Gun franchise, the film stars Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr, alongside Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, and Busta Rhymes; while MacFarlane and Erica Huggins serve as producers.