The Naked Gun Hopes To Revive The Theatrical Comedy

All of Hollywood is watching Paramount’s The Naked Gun — only the second big-screen comedy to hit theaters this year, and easily the one carrying the highest expectations — to see if it can revive the genre after a decade-long drought.

The Big Picture: Comedies used to be a mainstay on the big screen but have vanished from marquees seemingly more than any other genre. Yet people still love to laugh — stand-up comedy is bigger than ever, short-form comedy rules TikTok and YouTube, and last week’s Happy Gilmore 2 became the biggest film debut on Netflix ever. A theatrical-comedy renaissance feels overdue.

Behind The Scenes: Here’s why there’s so much pressure (probably too much pressure) on The Naked Gun to perform:

• There were 18 major comedies released in 2015 — eight of which grossed over $100 million, including Trainwreck and Ted — while 2024 saw zero.
• Instead, most of Hollywood’s focus has shifted to blockbusters with global appeal or adaptations of well-known IP — films that can generate outsized grosses and translate easily across cultures (comedy typically doesn’t check those boxes).
• And when comedy is put on the big screen, it’s usually imbued into a superhero movie (Deadpool), action flick (The Fall Guy), or fantasy film (Barbie).
• The lack of comedies has become a self-fulfilling prophecy — the fewer that get made, the fewer opportunities actors have “to prove that they can be bankable comedy stars” and get more made, according to filmmaker Judd Apatow.

Last Laugh: The Naked Gun, which cost a relatively low $42 million to make, is projected to open between $15 and $17 million… a modest sum, but the hope is that great reviews and great word of mouth can keep people laughing for weeks on end. It’s an outcome that comedy filmmakers are rooting for, including Bridesmaids filmmaker Paul Feig, who told The WSJ that his last two movies, which went to streaming, played great when tested in a theater with a crowd but got a more mixed reception when released on Prime Video.

When it comes to comedy, getting the opportunity to laugh with strangers in a dark room can really make all the difference… for audiences, for filmmakers, and for the movie industry still needing people to come back at the same rate they did prior to COVID.

Coming Soon: If The Naked Gun succeeds, expect Hollywood not only to ramp up development of more straight-comedy films, but also to push for discovering a new generation of comedy stars — from SNL to stand-up stages to TikTok — who can keep the genre sustainable for years to come.