Is Mel Brooks Still Planning To Bring Back ‘Spaceballs’ To Search For More Money?

If you kick around online a bit today, you’ll likely see news confirming that Spaceballs is making a comeback on the heels of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Each reports cites an interview between Mel Brooks and Adam Carolla on the latter’s Take A Knee podcast from earlier in the year, tossing in a pullquote or two from another interview in Parade magazine. It’s the same news that was reported in February which garnered a lot of excitement for the return of Dark Helmet and Lone Starr, and still is. And Brooks essentially said the film is a money-maker for one big reason:

“And I’m thinking now, if I said, if I did a movie that came out right after Star Wars comes out, you know, maybe a couple of months later, Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, I’d have a big weekend, you know, no matter what, even if it fell on its ass and you know, didn’t get that money back.”

Considering the success of Star Wars right now, he’s not wrong. But is the movie still happening? There’s no official announcement confirming or denying the film at this point. Brooks hasn’t even really mentioned the film since these interviews. The director is currently preparing for a highly promoted Q&A at the Kennedy Center in honor of Blazing Saddles and was most recently interviewed in Entertainment Weekly about his thoughts on the Trump campaign:

“If I were doing a sitcom I’d do it about a powerful idiot like this guy, who’s running a big corporation or a big network and we’d get to see behind the scenes what an idiot he is…

“The most interesting thing happening was Fox News turning on Trump. That’s hysterical. It’s like Bavaria fighting with Austria — they’re both Germans!”

But still, no real mention of Spaceballs. Even a peek at his IMDb page doesn’t reveal much. His last directed film was 1995’s Dracula: Dead And Loving It and he’s currently set to provide his voice to the film Blazing Samurai. This doesn’t bode well for a film that was reportedly “on track” to begin filming in the start of 2016.

Luckily, there is hope in the form of Rick Moranis. Brooks went on the record in Parade as saying there is no Spaceballs sequel without Moranis, the man who brought Dark Helmet to life and allegedly retired, then un-retired from acting. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moranis talked about the possibility of starring in another film (in relation to the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot):

“I took a break, which turned into a longer break,” he says. “But I’m interested in anything that I would find interesting. I still get the occasional query about a film or television role” — he’s repped by the Santa Monica-based endorsement firm Bailey Brand Management — “and as soon as one comes along that piques my interest, I’ll probably do it. [But Ghostbusters] didn’t appeal to me.”

Make Spaceballs interesting and you’ve got Moranis. It’s the perfect storm to get Spaceballs back out there. Our last foray was the short-lived animated series that ran on G4 for 13 episodes, but that was without the current tsunami of nostalgia for Star Wars. And the fans seem ready. Take a look at these fan posters for “The Schwartz Awakens,” parodying everything great about Star Wars fandom and showing just how popular the film still is:

So it’s the perfect time for a Spaceballs sequel, but one doesn’t seem to be officially in the works. If anything, it’s an idea that is somewhere in Mel Brooks’ head or in a notebook at his house. Or maybe it’s a script that is making its way around Hollywood. It should happen. It has to happen.

(Via Raw Story / The Hollywood Reporter / The Inqusitr / Nerdist )

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