Spaceballs Sequel in the Works at Amazon MGM Studios

Amazon MGM Studios will develop a sequel to the 1987 film ‘Spaceballs’, with Josh Gad starring, and Mel Brooks and Gad producing. 

Josh Greenbaum will direct, and Benji Samit will pen the screenplay with Dan Hernandez and Gad. 

Kevin Salter will executive produce the feature. 

Amazon declined to comment on the news, but Variety reports that the project is in the early stages, and plot details are being kept close to the chest. 

Samit and Hernandez are best known for their comedic and parody work, writing the script for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ and ‘Addams Family 2’. 

Both penned the script for the upcoming LEGO and Disney+ special, ‘LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy’ which sees familiar ‘Star Wars’ concepts flipped on their heads. 

‘Spaceballs’ is a parody from MGM, releasing at the height of the fandom for several new science fiction properties. 

The one it pokes fun at the most is ‘Star Wars’, with Bill Pullman as the Luke Skywalker esque Lone Star, John Candy as the Chewbacca-like Barf, Daphne Zuniga as the Princess Leia mirror Princess Vespa, Rick Moranis as Vader’s equivalent as Lord Dark Helmet, and Mel Brooks as the Palpatine-like President Skroob and Yogurt, a character that parodies Yoda. 

‘Star Wars’ wasn’t the only franchise‘Spaceballs’ sought to make fun of, with other properties like ‘Star Trek’, ‘Transformers’ and ‘Alien’ all being referenced.  

Gad, who’s best known for his appearance in the Broadway play ‘The Book of Mormon’, and as the voice of the snowman Olaf in the ‘Frozen’ franchise.

He will make his directorial debut with a bipoic centering on the comedian Chris Farley.  

Brooks has previously revisited other comedies that first released in the 1980s. 

In 2023, he produced ‘History of the World, Part II’, a follow-up to ‘Part 1’ released in 1981.

A release date for the ‘Spaceballs’ follow up hasn’t been announced.