The Naked Gun has broken a major record for its Oscar-nominated star Liam Neeson. The new movie, which stars Neeson as wacky cop Frank Drebin Jr., acts as both reboot and legacy sequel to the original film trilogy, which starred Airplane’s Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin.
The Naked Gun release kicked off on August 1 with a $16.8 million debut that marked the second-best opening weekend for the franchise. This total also saw the movie earn the best 3-day premiere gross for a movie led by Liam Neeson in 10 years, since the 2015 debut of Taken 3.
Per The Numbers, The Naked Gun has now reached a worldwide box office total of $32.9 million, comprising a $21.4 million domestic gross and $11.5 million from international markets. The movie has now surged past the $32.6 million worldwide haul of 2020’s Honest Thief to become Neeson’s highest-grossing movie of the decade so far.
What This Means For The Naked Gun
While this record is remarkable, a worldwide gross of $32.9 million is not necessarily a spectacular result. In fact, The Naked Gun is only the 45th highest-grossing movie of the year so far, falling behind even underwhelming releases such as M3GAN 2.0 ($39 million) and Black Bag ($42.7 million).
While The Naked Gun will most likely continue to climb the chart as its theatrical run continues into its sophomore weekend and beyond, the fact that it has already outgrossed all the other Liam Neeson movies of the 2020s in its first week speaks to the general underperformance of those titles.
However, the field is still competitive, as Liam Neeson starred in nearly a dozen theatrical movies between 2020 and 2024, including Made in Italy ($2.7 million), The Marksman ($23.8 million), Blacklight ($16 million), Retribution ($13.6 million), and In the Land of Saints and Sinners ($3.4 million).
Our Take On The Naked Gun Record
It ultimately remains to be seen if 2025’s The Naked Gun remains Liam Neeson’s highest-grossing movie of the decade. For the time being, it looks like it will remain so for some time, especially if it climbs to a more impressive number by the end of its run.
Neeson has a number of upcoming movies, including the horror-comedy Cold Storage and the heist movie 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank. However, they seem similar to his other 2020s offerings that were outgrossed by The Naked Gun, so he may only be able to compete if he stars in another pure comedy and strikes a similar vein.
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8/10
- Release Date
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August 1, 2025
- Runtime
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85 minutes
- Director
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Akiva Schaffer
- Writers
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Akiva Schaffer, Doug Mand, Dan Gregor, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
- Producers
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Erica Huggins