Mel Brooks makes Spaceballs 2 announcement with cast set to include rarely seen star - Nothing is allowed to rest in peace

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Mel Brooks makes Spaceballs 2 announcement with cast set to include rarely seen star​

Rick Moranis is reportedly set to come out of retirement for the long-awaited sequel


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Mel Brooks has announced his personal involvement in a sequel to his Star Wars spoof, Spaceballs.

The 98-year-old comedy legend co-wrote, produced and directed the original 1987 satire. He is set to reprise his role as Yogurt, a parody of wise Star Wars character Yoda, in the upcoming Spaceballs 2, which is set for release in 2027.

Brooks made the announcement with a teaser clip posted to social media, which he captioned: “I told you we’d be back.”


In the style of the famous Star Wars opening scroll, a message reads: “Thirty-eight years ago, there was only one Star Wars trilogy...”

The message goes on to mention the huge amount of sequels and spin-offs released since then, including the films and television series set in the Stars Wars universe but also referencing Dune, Jurassic Park, Alien, Harry Potter and “36 MCU movies with two different Robert Downey Jr.’s.”

At the end of the scroll, Brooks appears in person wearing a sweater with the slogan: “SPACEBALLS THE SWEATSHIRT.”

He says: “After 40 years we asked what do the fans want... but instead, we’re making this movie.”

It was previously announced that Josh Gad will lead the cast of the sequel, which will be directed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar filmmaker Josh Greenbaum.

In his own social media message, Gad added: “I was that child who saw Spaceballs before I ever saw Star Wars and then wondered why anyone would do a dramatic remake of the Mel Brooks classic.


“It is therefore the greatest gift of my life to now help take the reins and work alongside Mel and this incredible group to do a sequel to the movie that first inspired George Lucas.”

The rest of the cast has not yet been officially announced, but Deadline reports that Rick Moranis is expected to come out of retirement to reprise his role as the villainous Dark Helmet.

Moranis, one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1980s and 1990s, has not appeared in a live-action role in over 25 years.

The publication also reports that Bill Pullman will return as Lone Starr, the spoof’s equivalent of Han Solo, while Keke Palmer is set to join the cast in an as-yet-unspecified role.

Spaceballs 2 is being produced by Amazon MGM and will premiere in theaters. It has been jokingly dubbed by the studio as: “A Non-Prequel Non-Reboot Sequel Part Two but with Reboot Elements Franchise Expansion Film.”

Local archive of the teaser:
 
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On one hand: you can tell the text crawl was written by Brooks, since it has the sarcastic humor he’s known for.
On the other hand: the production of this this movie will naturally involve people other than Mel Brooks, which entirely drains me of my confidence.
 
My concern is that a Spaceballs 2 would be at odds with itself, even under the absolute best of circumstances. Spaceballs was a very blunt, very direct parody of the original Star Wars trilogy and the surrounding hype. Nowadays, "Star Wars" isn't an iconic cinematic monolith, it's a diluted slop franchise with a million new characters, shows, movies, comics, etc.

Any kind of contemporary Star Wars parody would have issues even picking out scenes and characters that are iconic enough to be worthy of parody or instantly recognizeable enough to be appreciated as such. A Spaceballs 2 bears an additional load because it has its own established characters who are in turn parodies of SW characters who don't even play that big of a role in the franchise anymore. I think it's extremely difficult to make something that's both, a good parody of present-day Star Wars on its own and a satisfying continuation of Spaceballs 1.
 
While the text crawl is very Brooks, I don't have much confidence in this. The film making climate is just not going to be kind to the sort of irreverent humor the older films have. Plus, no John Candy or Joan Rivers and Brooks might just up and die between now and then, which would just sour the mood.
 
Sequels to decades-old movies these days are usually soulless cash grabs. That said, if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice taught us anything, it's that a group of people who've genuinely wanted to make something for decades can pull off something great. Hell, Michael Keaton's in his 70s and still gave it his all.

edit: I cannot type for the life of me todayy.
 
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Sequels to decades-old movies these days are usually soulless cash grabs. That said, if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice taught us anything, it's that a group of people who've genuinely wanted to make something for decades can pull off something great. Hell, Michael Keaton's in his 670s and still gave it his all.
The only time I've seen this work was when Ted V. Mikels randomly decided to make a sequel to Astro Zombies 40 years after the original. That sequel was much more entertaining than the first one.

Is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice really not shit?
 
Nowadays, "Star Wars" isn't an iconic cinematic monolith, it's a diluted slop franchise with a million new characters, shows, movies, comics, etc.
But it seems to indicate that might be the point - to essentially mock Star Wars for it's own irrelevance and Disney's mismanagement. You can imagine it - a bumbling lesbian heroine who only gets through because enemies literally sabotage themselves for her to win, zany technology to just be made up on the fly, not to mention - "Buy my merch, everything must go! Spaceballs: The Lego Set! Spaceballs: The Video Game! Spaceballs: The Pride Flag! Spaceballs: The Dildo Set! Spaceballs: The Other Dildo Set!"
 
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