Usually when a classic, beloved hit is co-opted for reboot material, it comes along with cringe and angst.  But we’ve seen many exceptions.  Take the 1987 parody Dragnet for instance.  It took a serious dramatic character made famous by Jack Webb in the 1950s and a sequel series starring Webb and Harry Morgan in the 1970s, and with a lot of love and reverence (and an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd, Christopher Plummer, and Dabney Coleman) it delivered a faithful–and funny–homage.

We talk a lot at borg about the Summer of 1982 for its movies, but along with a major wave of fantastic film, 1982 saw a season of a TV series called Police Squad!–Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker’s follow-up to the 1980 mega-hit Airplane!  Eight years later star Leslie Nielsen brought back the TV show’s earnest but daft Lt. Frank Drebin (along with Priscilla Presley) in a trilogy of The Naked Gun movies.  And now we’re getting a reboot.  Like with Dragnet, the original character’s next-generation relative was the star and here that is Liam Neeson as son Frank, Jr.  You wouldn’t think you could mess around with Leslie Nielsen’s character, but we may have a winner here.  And the trailer quickly addresses O.J. Simpson co-starring in the original movies.

Check out this preview for the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun:

The Naked Gun is not written or directed by the original trio but Akiva Schaffer, who delivered one major hit for us with The LEGO Movie.  Seth MacFarlane is listed as a producer–this trailer is certainly in step with his brand of humor.

Look for The Naked Gun in theaters August 1, 2025.

C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg