David Zucker, who co-created the original spoof trilogy, says he has “no interest” in seeing Paramount’s 2025 Naked Gun revival, arguing that remaking a 40-year-old concept “is a copy of an old idea” and doubting whether Liam Neeson’s gravitas meshes with slapstick parody.
Zucker added that he was never invited to play a creative role and was left “confused about its direction” after a cordial but fruitless chat with producer Seth MacFarlane. In the same interview he quipped, quoting collaborator Jim Abrahams, “If your daughter became a prostitute, would you go watch her work?” to explain why he plans to skip opening night.
The 1988 original, propelled by Leslie Nielsen’s dead-serious delivery, earned roughly $78.7 million in North America and spawned two sequels that cemented its joke-a-second style.
Director Akiva Schaffer, speaking ahead of release, said the project only clicked once Neeson attached, promising “endless slapstick bits” while respecting the “rules” of classic spoofs. Neeson, now 73, recently called the film “a one-off” but hinted he would consider returning if audiences respond.
Paramount is banking on that response when the picture lands in U.S. theatres on August 1 2025, with Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, and CCH Pounder rounding out the ensemble and MacFarlane steering production duties. Early press has fixated on an outlandish bedroom set-piece involving a magically animated snowman, signalling Schaffer’s intention to match—if not exceed—the original’s absurdity quotient.
While the studio touts the reboot as a summer comedy tent-pole, Zucker continues developing an unrelated spoof, Star of Malta, insisting that genuine novelty, not recycling, keeps the genre alive.
