Best Comedy of 2025 Likely Not Getting a Sequel, Director Says
It looks like The Naked Gun won't be getting another shot. Akiva Schaffer, director of the Liam Neeson-led reboot of the police spoof series starring Leslie Nielsen, says it's unlikely that there will be a sequel to the 2025 film despite widespread acclaim and a solid box office performance.
In an interview with CBR at the Critics Choice Awards on January 4, 2026, Schaffer broke the bad news.
"We are not planning another," Schaffer said.
Paramount-Skydance Merger to Blame
Schaffer went on to explain that the merger of Paramount with Skydance Media, which was finalized less than a week after The Naked Gun's August 1 release, likely had something to do with the derailed plans.
"I don't know if you heard about Paramount kind of changed owners," he continued. "It was maybe something. It was about seven days after the movie came out, and so, you know, we're waiting to hear from [them to] see if they would want it."
The potential silver lining here is that it's possible that Paramount might be interested in another Naked Gun movie. Schafer says they have ideas for another film. ("Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, who wrote the script with me, they do have a list of gags," he told CBR.) But there is nothing in the works — and given the state of the theatrical comedy, it might not be wise to hold your breath.
Theatrical Comedies Like The Naked Gun Are Increasingly Rare
A rebooted sequel to 1988's The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, which itself spawned two sequels also starring Nielsen as the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin, the 2025 movie was a throwback to an earlier, sillier era of movies. Neeson played Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr., and Pamela Anderson co-starred. The movie is quite fun and got good reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, an imperfect but useful metric to evaluate films, The Naked Gunhas 87 percent approval from critics.
In terms of box office, The Naked Gun made $102 million worldwide off a $42 million budget. That's not bad by any means—the general rule of thumb is that a film needs to make at last twice its budget to really break even, once you consider things like marketing costs—but The Naked Gun wasn't the gigantic hit that Paramount might have hoped for.
There were high expectations for The Naked Gun to do amazing because it was viewed as a possible chance for theatrical comedies to make a comeback. While there are still laughs to be had at movie theaters, many comedies are crossovers with other genres, like horror or action, or else they're little indie films. Mid-budget studio comedies like The Naked Gun have become increasingly rare. As general audiences go to the movies less frequently, it often takes a big event movie, like a 3D Avatar or can't-miss franchise epic, to get them to leave the house. There are plenty of streaming comedies (not to mention all the comedians on YouTube and TikTok), so there's less incentive for many viewers to shell out for a movie ticket.
That may be the reality, but it's a shame. Seeing a new comedy in a crowded room with people laughing at the same jokes is a truly special experience. The Naked Gun is funny if you watch it on Paramount+, but it was truly a hoot and a holler in the theater with everybody else giggling along with you. Hopefully there will be another chance for that to happen, even if Schaffer is currently doubtful of the prospects of a sequel.