Movies

Everyone who’s read the script for Spaceballs 2 has been “blown away”

BBG News

As a child of the ’90s, I was fortunate enough to grow up with the timeless comedy gem that is Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs. This hilarious spoof of Star Wars, released in 1987, became my first introduction to the galaxy far, far away, and it remains close to my heart even today. So when I heard the news that Josh Gad was working on a sequel with Mel Brooks himself, I nearly jumped out of my chair!

In 1987, the comedy icon Mel Brooks unveiled the spoof film Spaceballs, a lampoon of the famous space saga Star Wars. The characters included the renegade space pilot Lone Star (Bill Pullman), his hairy companion Barf (John Candy), and the wicked Darth Helmet (Rick Moranis). Although Star Wars fever was far from over at that time, with Return of the Jedi having been released four years earlier, it wasn’t until Spaceballs hit home video that it cultivated a devoted following. I recall watching this hilarious film as a young child in the 1990s, and interestingly enough, I may have seen Spaceballs before I watched Star Wars. To this day, it remains my favorite.

Over time, Brooks tried multiple times to produce a follow-up to the movie “Spaceballs”, but none of these attempts were successful; it’s been reported by Forbes that Moranis once proposed a film called “Spaceballs III: The Quest for Spaceballs II”, but this project never materialized. With the passing of new Star Wars eras, first the prequel trilogy and then the sequel trilogy, “Spaceballs” remained unchanged.

It’s always good to start something late rather than never: This year, we learned that Josh Gad, renowned for his role as Olaf the snowman in Frozen, was working on a new Spaceballs film alongside Mel Brooks. This week, he revealed that the script is complete, and everyone who’s read it has been astounded by it. Working on this project with and under the guidance of Mel Brooks has been an extraordinary career moment for him.

It was sort of a fever dream that this all happened. Mel has been so unbelievably supportive, involved, and electrified by this because it’s the one that surprisingly got away. It’s a dream to be able to finally make the reality prophesied by Yogurt in the first movie happen. I can’t say more than that. I can’t tell you anything beyond [the] process at this point, but I can tell you every hour of every day right now is spent making this project closer and closer to reality — and I think we’re nearing the end zone here.

A potential new Spaceballs film might need to proceed without many members of the original cast as Rick Moranis has retired, John Candy and Joan Rivers are no longer alive. While it would certainly be enjoyable to involve Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, and Brooks himself, the plot would likely have to adapt given that a significant amount of time has elapsed since the original film was made.

However, the Star Wars series occasionally introduced fresh characters, so why not Spaceballs as well? After all, it had already planned a sequel named Spaceballs II: The Quest for More Money, implying there’s even a title ready. “Stay tuned!” Gad laughs when asked about using that one.

I’m somewhat disappointed that Spaceballs II didn’t come out during one of Star Wars’ earlier surges in popularity, but the franchise has never truly disappeared. There’s plenty of fresh material for Gad and his team to satirize that has emerged over the past three decades. Here’s hoping they hit a home run and keep my inner child amused.

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2024-11-05 23:41

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