Can Liam Neeson’s The Naked Gun be the flag bearer of film comedies coming back to the big screen?

It's 2025. You walk into a theater to find the poster for The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson as a police officer, stretching his legs.

However, it doesn't seem like a usual Liam Neeson film. It doesn't look dark or gritty, but funny. Even here, he seems to have a "particular set of skills," but it doesn't look like he is well-equipped to find his missing daughter by any means necessary.

The Naked Gun (dir. Akiva Schaffer) is a comedy film in theaters, which may not have come as a surprise only a decade ago. Even in the early 2010s, there were many more comedies out in cinemas. So, you could walk into a theater and find a comedy film if you wanted to, most of the time. There would often be a film from Judd Apatow, Adam McKay, Seth Rogen, or someone else. Yet, these days, you would be surprised to find a comedy movie in one of those halls.

It leaves us with a question: Can The Naked Gun mark a return of comedy films in the theaters? The answer is more complicated than a simple Yes or No. It would depend on the success of Liam Neeson's movie, but there's another side to this conversation that Matt Damon recently addressed in an interview.

Disclaimer: The article contains the author's opinion.

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Why are there no comedies in theaters these days?

In 2021, Matt Damon addresses the changes in the movie industry in recent years. Damon got his big break with Good Will Hunting (1997), with a script he co-wrote with his good friend, Ben Affleck. Before that, he had minor roles in indie films by Kevin Smith or others. It's not like this was a big-budget blockbuster.

It may not even be considered a mid-budget film. Still, it reportedly earned over $225 million, a big win for Damon's writing debut. Unlike then, it's hard to find even mid-budget films in cinemas.

In an interview with Sean Evans (First We Feast), Damon revealed why that is so. Here's what he said,

"DVD was a huge part of our business model and our revenue stream, and the technology has just made that obsolete. So, the movies that we used to make, you could afford to make all of your money when they played in the theaters, because you knew you had a DVD coming behind the release. So, six months later, you get a whole other chunk. When that went away, it changed the type of movies we could make."

Damon further shared an anecdote about his 2013 Behind the Candelabra, addressing its promotional budget and its connection to the film's eventual success. He called it a "massive gamble," while comparing it to the 1990s or before, when similar movies were far more common.

Damon's comments also address the recent discussions related to a film's success that almost entirely talk about their theatrical run. In a world where streaming has become the norm and DVDs do not generate sales as they once did, theaters and distributors have become increasingly risk-averse. It brings us back to the argument about The Naked Gun's success.

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Can The Naked Gun be the flag bearer of film comedies in theaters?

The Naked Gun has received vastly popular reviews, evident from its 90% Rotten Tomatoes score. Many reviewers have called it the return of classic American comedies. Indiewire also hailed it "the most important movie of the summer," and there's a reason for it.

The Liam Neeson starrer is up against Marvel's tentpole project, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, doing wonders at the box office. Their audience demographic may not be identical, but the MCU film might affect its future stakes in cinemas.

According to Variety, The Naked Gun will likely earn over $15 million on its opening weekend. To outpace its $42 million budget, it will have to earn over $85 million across its theatrical run, as per Screenrant. In a world where theatrical returns are how a success is measured, it will need to cross that figure to make studios trust theatrical comedies again. Otherwise, we might have to watch comedy films only on streaming.

The Naked Gun might benefit from Liam Neeson's star power, or thanks to his press interviews with his co-star, Pamela Anderson. It can also profit from the creative minds behind the project. Whether you're a fan of The Lonely Island or Family Guy, you might find something worth laughing at in the new film. Hopefully, that will bring back the good old days of comedies.

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The Naked Gun is in cinemas now.