Like at the beginning of the original space balls, which was a big hit with that long opening spaceship sequence that made fun of Star wars, Amazon MGM Studios did the same at its Hall H presentation on Friday. Spaceballs: new.
A la studio presentation Hail Mary Project Last year, they opened up 180-degree panoramic screens for the new Mel Brooks film with a veritable Comic-Con parody: a hysterical parody of the Marvel Cinematic Universe phase timeline from their 2019 and 2022 presentations.
The screens showed multiple iterations Space balls through 11 stages, including musicals and unspecified release dates. Genius.
“We’d do a really weird one Blade“Josh Gad, the sequel’s writer, producer and star, joked later during the discussion when asked by an audience member what kind of sci-fi sequel they would make together. “But maybe it will finally get made.”
At first, returning star Rick Moranis, aka Dark Helmet, couldn’t be found in the room until a camera following suited astronauts combing the crowd literally found him disguised among a group of fans wearing the character’s helmet. McKenzie’s former brother stood and received a standing ovation.
“Rick sells it cheaper,” Gad joked. “They declare him part of X-Men casting tomorrow.”
Gad called Moranis “one of the four men in my comedy ‘Mount Rushmore’. Another one is John Candy. This movie is really a love letter to him. I don’t play Barf in this movie. I play the new grave in our movie. John is the focus of this movie and the reason why there’s so much heart in this movie. I hope when you see it, you’ll agree.”
Josh Gadd on Rick Moranis in his comedy “Mount Rushmore” and how “Spaceballs: The New” is a “love letter to John Candy”
Gadd says he’s playing a magician, but not Barf, as it’s strictly a John Candy role | #SDCC pic.twitter.com/OKKxlBhPcR
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) July 24, 2026
Brooks, 100, beamed, “Sorry, I can’t be with you. I’m in a conference room trying to buy a rare Charizard card. When I was your age, on Friday I was going to something called work,” he joked. “From the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you, nerds.” Brooks returns as the almighty Yogurt in the sequel.
Rick Moranis at the Spaceballs: New panel on Friday
Michael Buckner
Bill Pullman (aka Lone Starr in the film’s Han Solo version) also beamed this evening, declaring that he was “hunting down a rare Charizard card in the UK.” However, Pullman’s son Lewis, who plays his on-screen son Starburst in the film, was present on the panel and called his father’s work on the project “an irreplaceable shoe.”
Lewis Pullman shared his least favorite scene in the original space balls, “When Barf knocks my dad’s cowboy hat off. I remember being too young to understand that the hat didn’t just fall into the abyss of space. The whole movie is about him trying to get his damn hat back.”
“I had some serious beef with Barf for some time,” added the young Pullman.
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Brooks’s sense of humor is historically politically incorrect (read: Blazing Saddles), so how does this happen in this violent Trump era? Will Spaceballs 2 avoid disputes? “It’s all about the laughter, Mel always said,” says sequel director Josh Greenbaum.
Moranis added, “In a Mel Brooks movie, there’s room for the smartest joke you’ve ever thought of and the dumbest joke.”
The clip shown in the room today was longer than the one at CinemaCon, which featured Brooks as Yogurt, Keke Palmer and Lewis Pullman’s characters in the adventure, Daphne Zuniga as the now-Queen Vespa, and culminated with the Na’vi Avatar entering the men’s room and walking towards a urinal. (As far as we understand, the trailer will not be released today.)
Spaceballs: new opens in theaters April 23, 2027.
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