Editing Loaded Weapon 1 (section)

==Release==
===Box office===
''Loaded Weapon 1'' opened at number 1 at the US box office and grossed almost $28 million in the United States and Canada in total.<ref>{{cite news|title= Weekend Box Office Here Come the First Hits of 1993|work= [[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=1993-02-09|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-09-ca-1220-story.html|access-date=2010-12-25|first=David J.|last=Fox}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Movies|work= [[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=1993-02-15|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-15-ca-74-story.html|access-date=2010-12-25|first=Beth|last=Kleid}}</ref><ref name="mojo">{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=loadedweapon1.htm | title=Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) | work=[[Box Office Mojo]] | publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]] | access-date=August 3, 2015}}</ref> Internationally, it grossed $23.2 million for a worldwide total of $51.2 million.<ref name=ww/> The movie, along with ''[[Excessive Force (film)|Excessive Force]]'' and ''[[Three of Hearts (1993 film)|Three of Hearts]]'', was cited for its contribution to New Line's record pre-sales in 1992 totaling $91.2 million.<ref>Buoyed by pre-sales of such upcoming films as their ''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1'', ''Excessive Force'', and ''Three of Hearts'', New Line Intl. will finish out 1992 with firm sales of $91.2&nbsp;million.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2025}}

===Critical reception===
The film received mostly negative reviews. [[Owen Gleiberman]] of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' gave the film a C, comparing it negatively to the [[Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker]] films, while also noting that "the ''Lethal Weapon'' films, with their hyperbolic explosiveness, lurid repartee, and quasi-loco [[Mel Gibson]] hero, are already winking at the audience. (Last year's spoofy, ragtag ''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]'' practically turned its own slovenliness into a running gag.) The only way to make light of them is to exaggerate the cartoon funkiness that's already at the center of their appeal. It's no wonder this Weapon ends up shooting blanks."<ref>{{cite news|title= Loaded Weapon |publisher= [[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=1993-02-12|url= https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305526,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081202093938/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305526,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= December 2, 2008|access-date=2010-12-05|first=Owen|last=Gleiberman}}</ref> Lawrence Cohn of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' opened his review by saying "More an imitation than a parody, this would-be comedy is very short on laughs."<ref>{{cite news|title=Loaded Weapon |publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=1992-12-31|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793428?refcatid=31|access-date=2010-12-05|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' said the film's main failure was that the ''Lethal Weapon'' movies already contained sly spoofs of the police film genre: "The send-up doesn't feel much different than the real thing".<ref>{{cite news|title=Loaded Weapon |publisher=[[Chicago Sun Times]]|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/national-lampoons-loaded-weapon-1-1993|access-date=2010-12-05|first=Roger|last=Ebert}}</ref>

Clifford Terry had a more mixed review of the film; in the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' he remarked that "the salt-and-pepper protagonists are no-nonsense, rapid-firing cops down to their very names: Colt and Luger. Obviously, ''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I'' is designed as a sendup of the ''Lethal Weapon'' movies, but the benchmarks are really ''[[Police Academy (film)|Police Academy]]'' and ''[[The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!|The Naked Gun]]''. Once again, criminal activity is the game but sophomoric silliness and tastelessness call the shots."<ref>{{cite news|title= 'Loaded Weapon' Takes Its Shots But Then Misfires |publisher= [[Chicago Tribune]]|date=1993-02-05|url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1993/02/05/loaded-weapon-takes-its-shots-but-then-misfires/|access-date=2010-12-05|first=Clifford|last=Terry}}</ref>

''Loaded Weapon 1'' has a 21% score on the film-critic aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 34 reviews with the consensus: "''Loaded Weapon 1'' hits all the routine targets with soft squibs, yielding a tired parody that cycles through its laundry list of references with little comedic verve".<ref>{{rotten-tomatoes|national_lampoons_loaded_weapon_1|Loaded Weapon 1}} Retrieved August 3, 2015</ref>