Unique Nicole/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment The Naked Gun has been held up as a bellwether for the viability of studio comedies in the post-pandemic era, and this past weekend, the comedy reboot proved its staying power. The feature, directed by Akiva Schaffer and starring Liam Neeson, dropped just 50 percent in its sophomore outing, bringing its domestic total to $33 million, and its global haul to $56.4 million. Producers Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins hope The Naked Gun is the first of a new wave of comedies that will find theatrical audiences. Outside of Naked Gun, Macfarlane and Huggins-headed Fuzzy Door has a varied slate that runs the gamut from a Peacock series based on the late '80s horror-comedy The Burbs to a doc on Carl Sagan to Macfarlane's Frank Sinatra tribute album Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra. Macfarlane says, "To put it this way: You can make spark plugs and breakfast cereals at the same time, and if there's a market for both, then why not?" Related Stories Movies 'Naked Gun' Writers Weigh In on Most Talked-About Jokes: R-Word, O.J. and That Final Fight Movies Original 'Naked Gun' Director Reacts to Reboot's Opening Weekend (Exclusive) MacFarlane and Huggins talk to THR about the "double-edged sword" of testing comedies, what lessons Hollywood should take from Naked Gun's performance, and sequel plans. What has the response been to Naked Gun's performance? ERICA HUGGINS I've gotten so many incoming calls and texts and emails from well-wishers, and that doesn't always happen. (Laughs.) For the first time, you can feel the goodwill from every single producer, all the agencies, from actors, from people who just want comedy. SETH MACFARLANE I just got a text from a retired Family Guy writer, which tells you how long the show has been on the air. "A retired Family Guy writer." He said he was at a barber shop at Amherst, Massachusetts. It's a six-chair place, and everybody was talking about The Naked Gun. If that isn't a glowing review, I don't know what is. What was the biggest hurdle to get the greenlight on this movie? HUGGINS The biggest thing to overcome was the question: "Will a movie like this - a spoof movie, that we haven't seen in at least a decade - work for today's audience?" Then, the next question always became, "Who is the audience? Is it nostalgia only? Is it the older crowd? How do we get the younger crowd?" And then it always came back to budget. The other big part to overcome was that we needed dramatic actors to play the comedy, and play it straight. How did you convince the studio that Liam Neeson was the right choice? MACFARLANE I don't know that we ever did. Eventually, they just got tired of us. There have been other iterations of this franchise attempted over the years and oftentimes it is a comedian, and usually a terrific comedian, who is announced as the lead. One of the fundamental edicts of the [original Naked Gun creators] Zucker Brothers was you played against the comedy. You cast people like Robert Stack, Peter Graves and Leslie Nielsen. There were no comics, and it just worked every single time when they stuck to that. In the opening weekend exit numbers, nearly half the audience was in the 18 to 34 demo. What do you make of that? HUGGINS All the previous Naked Guns were PG-13. Akiva was extremely aware of what that did for him as a kid. It allowed him access, even though it was still a little bit risqué. MACFARLANE Younger audiences don't really have the same comedy filmography attached to their experience of growing up as we did. We had movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Caddyshack. In the '90s, they had comedies like Home Alone and in the early 2000s 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. It's been a while since a generation has had a comedy or series of comedies that define their decade. The marketing for this movie leaned into the reality that there haven't been broad comedies in theaters. Why do you think that played well? MACFARLANE It was an easy choice for the studio to just dive into, because there has not been a true, hard comedy in a long time. In the '80s, you had shows like Cheers that were comedies. They had jokes, they had laughs, they were true comedies that would also be recognized during award season. You don't see that anymore. [Today] you see essentially dramas with a smattering of jokes in comedy categories. I think it was pretty easy for the studio to take that reality and say, "Hey, we know what you're looking for. Here's some water in the desert." How important is audience testing when it comes to releasing a comedy for modern audiences? MACFARLANE Testing is such a double-edged sword. It is hugely valuable in the same way that it's hugely valuable to workshop your stand-up set, to know what jokes work and what d