The Schwartz awakens! That's right folks, 80s Star Wars satirical spoof Spaceballs is getting a sequel at long last. And before you say "Oh no, not again," John Hurt style, per Deadline's reporting, a veritable galaxy of talent are working to take us back to that galaxy very, very, very, very far away. Frozen's Josh Gad — who not-so-subtly teased the project on Instagram last week (see below) — is attached to produce and star the Amazon bound project, OG Spaceballs writer-director Mel Brooks is also aboard as a producer, and Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar director Josh Greenbaum is set to direct from a script by Gad and Detective Pikachu duo Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez.
Mel Brooks' original 1987 Spaceballs followed Luke Skywalker-esque hero Lone Starr (Bill Pullman), his Mog sidekick Barf (John Candy), and Druish princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) as the trio worked together to thwart the villainous plans of the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and President Skroob (Brooks). Opening to mixed-to-negative reviews and a lukewarm reception at the box office, the film's ahead of its time anti-capitalist, franchisification aping satire has since gone on to earn it a cult following, and it endures today as an exemplar of Mel Brooks' wickedly sharp and subversive brand of comedy.
Whether any of the original movie's cast will return to star alongside Gad remains to be seen, as do any details regarding the who, what, where, and when of the plot and release plans for the sci-fi spoof. But with Gad hailing the sequel's script "the funniest and best thing I’ve ever worked on," and some of the funniest figures in modern comedy coming together to bring Spaceballs back to our screens, there's plenty to get hyped for. In the meantime, we fully expect Spaceballs 2: the T-shirt, Spaceballs 2: the colouring book, Spaceballs 2: the lunch box, Spaceballs 2: the breakfast cereal, and Spaceballs 2: the flamethrower to follow in due course. After all, merchandising is where the real money from the movie is made.