Liam Neeson's Naked Gun franchise finally in the works, to release in July 2025, Paw Patrol and TMNT set for 2026 release

The Naked Gun reboot is set to brighten up 2025. Paramount Pictures revealed release dates on Wednesday for several upcoming films, including director Akiva Schaffer's untitled installment in the Naked Gun comedy series, slated for July 28, 2025. Initially announced in 2022, the movie features Liam Neeson in the lead role, with Seth MacFarlane onboard as a producer.

The studio also revealed that Paw Patrol 3 is scheduled for release on July 31, 2026, as a sequel to the studio's September hit, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which grossed over $200 million worldwide.

(Also Read: Sony's Madame Web fiasco: The demise of a new franchise signals a studio's need for change )

Exciting Upcoming Animated Releases

The latest movie comes from Spin Master Entertainment in collaboration with Nickelodeon Movies. Another animated feature, director Jeff Rowe’s TMNT 2, is slated for release on October 9, 2026, as a sequel to the filmmaker’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, released last August and earning $180 million globally.

Another addition to the studio's lineup is Novocaine, featuring Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder, slated for release on March 14, 2025. Directed by Robert Olsen and Dan Berk, this action-packed film follows Quaid as a bank executive whose unique condition of being unable to feel pain proves advantageous when his bank is targeted by robbers.

Crafting the New Naked Gun

Dan Gregor and Doug Man crafted the script for the upcoming Naked Gun film, collaborating with Schaffer after their work on the director's Emmy-winning Disney+ feature Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022). The movie, based on the Naked Gun film franchise and the television series Police Squad! created by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, is produced by MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door.

In a late last year interview with The Hollywood Reporter commemorating the 35th anniversary of the original 1988 Naked Gun movie, director David Zucker and co-writer Pat Proft revealed that they had previously penned a script for a fourth film. The series, starring Leslie Nielsen as the accident-prone lieutenant Frank Drebin, saw its latest installment in 1994 with Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.

In a recent conversation with MacFarlane, published earlier this year for his Peacock series Ted, he informed THR that momentum for the Naked Gun reboot had recently surged.

(Also Read: Turning 30 in 2024: 8 former child stars from Harry Styles to Saoirse Ronan )