The Hollywood Beats: ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘The Naked Gun’

Summer blockbusters fight for the top spot, box office numbers are up, and a Hollywood actor sticks to his principles when shooting intimate scenes in this week’s “The Hollywood Beats.”

Although it will most likely be the box office champ again this weekend, Marvel is hoping the “Fantastic Four: First Steps” becomes an actual hit. Sounds funny to say that because it made $117 million domestically, but to truly become a blockbuster, it will need to have legs. The studio is hoping for a $45 to $52 million haul in week two. Its challengers are “The Naked Gun” reboot and “The Bad Guys 2.” Prognosticators say despite decent box office expectations for both films, they won’t come close to dethroning last week’s champ.

If you’re a theater owner or work for the Hollywood studios, it’s pretty much been good news all the way around when it comes to 2025 summer box office ticket sales. According to Deadline, year-to-date numbers for the box office are up 13 percent over the same period last year. Summer 2025 is almost $3 billion ahead of last summer, thanks to four of this summer ’s releases having a $100 million-plus opening weekend. That’s a great sign that people are finding their way back to theaters; however, numbers are still 15 percent behind pre-COVID numbers. But the comeback is on, so keep up the good work, movie fans!

If you’re an actor and only interested in kissing your wife on screen, it would help if she’s an actress and a good one; otherwise, you might miss out on some good jobs. “Sex in the City” and “Yellowstone” actor Neal McDonough refuses to kiss any woman who is not his wife, even for big movie bucks. He says sticking to his principles has cost him work, and that show business turned on him for a while. The “Suits” actor says he was fired from a shoot for refusing to do an intimate scene. Afterwards, he says he felt like less of a man and lost his acting swagger. He also says he started to drink.

Eventually, McDonough made a comeback despite his contractual stipulations, crediting producer Graham Yost who did the actor a solid and cast him in “Justified.” McDonough told the “Nothing Left Unsaid” podcast that it’s not even his wife that has an issue with him kissing another actress. It’s just that he has no desire to kiss other women. There is something so sweet and yet so strange about that.

Headed to the theaters? If so, bravo for you! The biggie this weekend is “The Naked Gun,” the much-anticipated remake of the native Wisconsin Zucker Brother’s classic “The Naked Gun” stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. Without having seen the film, I’m going go out on a limb and say that it appears, for once, that Neeson will not kill a bunch of people who mess with his family but, if he does continue the tradition, it should be hilarious. The comedy is pulling an incredibly impressive 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. To clarify, yes, a comedy is actually playing on the big screen this weekend and critics love it! 

“The Bad Guys 2” follows our favorite animated felons as they try to reform themselves, but wouldn’t you know it and darn the luck, they get pulled into another caper, but this time by bad girls. I should mention this is a family film. “The Bad Guys 2” voice cast includes Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, and Sam Rockwell. The comedy-fantasy “Sketch” also opens this weekend and is rated PG. It is currently pulling a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Let’s go to the movies!

Editor’s note: For more movie and entertainment talk, join host Pete Schwaba weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. for “Nite Lite” on the Civic Media radio network.