We’ve heard that Spaceballs 2, a sequel to the fan-favorite Mel Brooks Star Wars/sci-fi spoof, was coming for a little bit now, and my reaction to it was pretty much, “OK, I loved the original, so I’ll give it a try.” The track record for comedy sequels that have big gaps between their original release has been spotty (i.e., Coming 2 America), so I didn’t want to get my expectations too high.
That all changed when the official announcement trailer for Spaceballs 2 hit the internet on June 12. After watching the almost two-minute teaser, one joke hit my funny bone just right that I’m now more confident than ever that Brooks, who is coming back to play his iconic character Yogurt for the sequel, and the other creatives involved are poised to make a hilariously worthy successor to Spaceballs.
Now that just makes it harder to wait until 2027 when the movie is scheduled to be released. (FYI, Brooks is set to turn 101 in 2027; what a legend.)
The Spaceballs 2 announcement video starts off strong, invoking the classic Star Wars opening text crawl to just let people know that in the 38 years since Spaceballs was released (and the next couple years ahead of Spaceballs 2’s planned release) Star Wars and other notable Hollywood franchises have really gone crazy with churning content out. My personal favorite jab in this list, “DCU attempt Number 1” (Zack Snyder’s version) and “DCU attempt Number 2” (James Gunn’s version, kicking off with Superman). But that’s not the joke that got me.
What really got me laughing was after the listing of all the content we got in between Spaceballs movies, Mel Brooks appears wearing a black sweater that reads: “Spaceballs the Sweatshirt.” Perfect.
You’re not supposed to explain jokes, but in case you’re scratching your head over why this is so funny (it may quickly rise into my favorite Mel Brooks jokes), here’s a refresher.
In Spaceballs, when the main characters of Lone Star (Bill Pullman), Barf (John Candy), Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and Dot Matrix (Joan Rivers) meet Yogurt, the miniature sage tells them that in addition to his mastery of the Schwartz, he also is prolific in merchandising, “where the real money from the movie is made.” Cut to a gift shop where they have Spaceballs dolls, Spaceballs the coloring book and Spaceballs the flame thrower. As Yogurt says, they put the name of the movie on everything.
So for Brooks to be wearing Spaceballs the Sweatshirt as he officially announces the movie is such a great gag that fans of the movie should absolutely love.
While Brooks is involved in the movie, he is not actually the driving creative force. Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez and Josh Gad wrote the script, while Josh Greenbaum (Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Strays) is directing. Gad called the script “the funniest and best thing” he’s ever worked on in a 2024 Instagram post. If the announcement is any indication, then I have every reason to believe Gad.
The announcement video had another treat for fans. Just before it ends, after Brooks finishes up his spiel, an image of Dark Helmet is shown, his helmet cracked with a Band-Aid on it. Yes, Rick Moranis, who played Dark Helmet in the original, is coming back for the sequel, as is Pullman to play Lone Starr, according to a report from Deadline. Keke Palmer has also been announced as joining the cast in a new role, with Gad also expected to play a role in the movie.
Spaceballs 2 is going to be released exclusively in movie theaters sometime in 2027. In the meantime, you can stream Spaceballs on Max (soon to be HBO Max again) in the US and Prime Video in the UK.
Watch the Spaceballs 2 announcement trailer right here:
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