Liam Neeson is grinning all the way to the bank.
Photo: Paramount
In a world where comedies are as endangered as the dodo and being quippy is a rare talent, a UNICEF-style PSA has emerged, reminding us that laughter is indeed on life support. Featuring the gravely serious Liam Neeson, the ad warns of an alarming drop in comedy films, revealing that fewer of these gems have graced our screens in the past year than ever before. Picture the despair: “Every year, comedies go unmade, unseen, and unquoted,” Neeson warns, mingling humor and nostalgia as scenes from Anchorman and Clueless flicker in the background. But fear not! For the price of a single movie ticket, you can rescue comedy from the brink of extinction and possibly even unleash a giggle or two—followed by the obligatory dad joke.
Then, just to cement the absurdity, he farts. Yes, folks, high art it is not.
Earlier this weekend, a collective chuckle erupted across North America, resulting in $17 million in ticket sales for Neeson’s latest slapstick masterpiece, The Naked Gun, with an additional $11.5 million from overseas. Ranking third among its cinematic peers, just behind The Fantastic Four: First Steps and an animated caper featuring animal-bank robbers, this film met its pre-release tracking expectations like a good student satisfying his teacher. Industry insiders hailed it as a “good but not great” debut. However, with an A- from audiences and a 91% freshness rating on the Tomatometer, buzz swirled around this rare breed of comedy—almost a unicorn in a post-COVID world.
“Back in my day,” said Jeff Bock, a senior box-office analyst, reminiscing as if he’d just stepped out of an old-timey saloon, “you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting a Jim Carrey or an Eddie Murphy on TV. Now, comedy resides in streaming and action films, with it infiltrating genres like a sneaky raccoon. Regular old comedies like Naked Gun are fading faster than your will to continue exercise after the New Year’s resolution.”
While summer ticket sales soared with the bloody delights of Deadpool and Wolverine last year, only three comedies since 2015 have dared to break the $20 million barrier: Melissa McCarthy’s Spy, the anthropomorphic hotdog caper Sausage Party, and the festival of friendship known as Girls Trip. Studios are increasingly hesitant to bless comedies with green lights—probably due to the fear of releasing a film that can’t even recoup its budget. The last comedy to dominate box office glory was 22 Jump Street in 2014. Since then, Hollywood has decided that humor belongs in smaller, safer, less expansive packages—thank you, streaming services.
Enter The Naked Gun, a reboot with the charm of a multicar pile-up of one-liners and sheer absurdity. Originally slated for the likes of Ed Helms back in 2013 until all parties realized, “Wait, what if we made this funny?” the film finally cast Neeson, who has stepped up to capture the bumbling essence of Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the beloved Leslie Nielsen’s original character. All this, of course, after Neeson had to pass a rigorous screen test proving he could be “funny without being a comedian” due to the bizarre artistic vision of the producers.
Interestingly enough, while Paramount weighed the comedy’s fate in today’s unpredictable movie marketplace, they took a gamble on the film’s “package” (and we don’t mean a delivery service). With a modest budget of $42 million and a team of talents like Seth MacFarlane and Akiva Schaffer, they lured Neeson in by making him do comedy while stone-faced—a comedy paradox if ever there was one. The result? Neeson not only won over executives but also the hearts of moviegoers, transforming into a hero of hilarity.
In Hollywood, the excitement around The Naked Gun seems palpable as fellow industry folks rally together, all praying for its success like it’s a lost puppy returning home. The film has enjoyed minimal competition, other than some Disney flick targeting mother-daughter nostalgia. Meanwhile, Paramount’s marketing guru sees solid initial success for this film designed to tickle all genders and demographics, proving that laughter might just return to the big screen. As one marketing head put it, audiences want that glowing recommendation, that moment of validation where ten friends assure them, “Yes, trust us—it’s funny!”
With The Naked Gun setting sail amid weaker comedic competition, it might just sail smoothly through the summer box office waves, especially as the laughter revitalizes—unless it crashes harder than a poorly timed punchline. Despite the comedy genre being on the rocks, conventional wisdom suggests all it takes to revive humor in Hollywood is a blockbuster comedy hit. Remember the days of The Hangover? We may just be on the cusp of another comedic renaissance, inviting laughter back into the theaters. Perhaps we can pack the cinematic landscape with jokes and not just explosions. One can only hope.
