No joke... the very future of comedy films is on the line

The release of three new comedies, including a reboot of 'The Naked Gun', will have profound consequences for a genre Hollywood routinely shuns

- Louis Chilton

Let's start with a lofty - but not necessarily inaccurate statement: the future of comedy on film might well be decided within the next three weeks. Over that time, three comedy movies - each significant in their own way - will be released in the UK. The first, out on Friday, is Friendship, an offbeat indie starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson, the creator of the cult sketch show I Think You Should Leave. The second, out on Netflix from 25 July, is Happy Gilmore 2, a sequel to Adam Sandler’s fondly remembered 1996 golfing comedy. And the third, out in cinemas on 1 August, is The Naked Gun, a reboot of the classic 1988 crime spoof, with Liam Neeson stepping into the Leslie Nielsen role.

When it comes to movie comedies, precarity doesn’t cover the half of it. Over the past decade, theatrically released studio comedies — once a mainstay of the film industry, and one of the most popular mass-market genres going — have been driven to the brink of extinction. Streaming is a huge factor in this, with the vast majority of comedy films now arriving straight on platforms such as Netflix. Films such as this year’s Will Ferrell-Reece Witherspoon comedy You're Cordially Invited, Jesse Armstrong’s recent tech-bro satire Mountainhead, or Jerry Seinfeld’s dreary 2024 cereal spoof Unfrosted all had big stars, sizeable budgets, and, to varying extents, broad appeal. Fifteen years ago, it would have been inconceivable that they would skip a cinematic release and go straight to TV. Instead, they debuted on Prime Video, Sky and Netflix respectively.