The lights went down at CinemaCon and the screen whispered, Space. Dark. Cold. Infinite. For three seconds the room was a single organism holding its breath. Then the footage delivered a joke so specific and so brazen that everyone laughed before they understood why.
I watched it with a notebook and no shame. You should feel the sting of that first laugh—it tells you where this sequel wants to live: rude, affectionate, and shamelessly referential.
At CinemaCon, the crowd leaned forward as Mel Brooks explained the title.
You heard it over the feed: Spaceballs: The New One. Mel Brooks wasn’t in the room, but his voice landed like a promise. Amazon and MGM are behind the production, and the first footage—shown by Lewis Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Josh Gad, and director Josh Greenbaum—moves with the comfortable confidence of a franchise that knows its jokes work.
When is Spaceballs 2 coming out?
The official release date is April 23, 2027. Mark it, argue about it on Twitter, or set a reminder in IMDb and your calendar—this is the kind of sequel that will make pre-sale chatter look like a warm-up act.
At a glance, the footage starts with cinematic wallpaper and then breaks everything.
The opening narration—“Space. Dark. Cold. Infinite”—gives way to a soggy cliff, a desert door, and a square droid trying to roll. Then the movie throws you a dozen crumbs: Yogurt in carbonite, an older Lone Star stepping out of a ship, portals opening, and a helmet half-buried in sand that screams of Star Wars pastiche.
The footage was a confetti cannon of jokes and nostalgia. The film’s tone is a cracked mirror reflecting every space epic we’ve worshipped.
Who is in the cast of Spaceballs: The New One?
Confirmed names from the CinemaCon presentation include Lewis Pullman (stepping into the Lone Star energy), Keke Palmer, Josh Gad (a new mog), Rick Moranis returning in some capacity, Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman, and George Wyner back as Colonel Sandurz. Director Josh Greenbaum boots the project into modern comedy terrain while Mel Brooks remains the creative North Star. Expect the casting chatter to bloom across io9, Gizmodo, IMDb, and social platforms overnight.
At a technical moment, the footage goes cheeky with franchise tropes.
Dark Helmet hits not a speed button but a REBOOT button and the screen folds into meta-humor: VHS fourth-wall shouts, new actors mirroring old beats, and a trippy montage that references Yoda-and-Dooku-style duels. There are deliberate pulls—an oversized Kylo Ren mask that opens to Dark Helmet, a penis-shaped mothership ejecting ball-shaped fighters, and a Na’vi at a comically enormous urinal that scores a perfectly timed gag.
What did the first footage show?
Highlights: a square-rolling droid, Yogurt in carbonite, a Schwartz duel with three lasers, portals, an alien performer from the original returning, a tiny living slice of pizza, a Spaceballs: The Flame Thrower gag, and the film leaning hard into absurd prop comedy (catcher’s mitt knockout included). Stephen Tobolowsky pops in for a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo. The footage plays like a mixtape of references—Star Wars, Avatar, Harry Potter moments—and then turns them into gross-out, high-energy punchlines.
At the moment of reaction, I felt audience curiosity flip into fear of missing out.
That’s the engine here. You’ll want to parse every frame for Easter eggs; fans already are. The CinemaCon reveal functions as a scarcity trigger—this footage won’t be public again for months, so people will hoard screenshots, thread theories on Reddit, and rate the trailer on Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd.
Amazon and MGM’s involvement signals big distribution muscle and streaming strategies to watch. Expect the marketing rollout to involve trailers on YouTube, targeted spots on Amazon Prime Video, and social clips aimed at meme culture. The film’s promotional campaign will be an exercise in nostalgia weaponization—delivering the jokes fans grew up on while pitching to a new generation’s meme economy.
At the close of the footage, the old guard faces one embarrassing truth.
Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurz boast they’re “back in the cosmic saddle,” then immediate body functions undercut them with the urinal gag. It’s a calculated reminder that this movie knows how to undercut its heroes—and profit from that gag economy.
I left the screening wanting to watch it again, to rewind, to catalog every wink. You will too, if you’re even slightly fond of absurdist parody. The film is promisingly silly, flagrantly referential, and built to be argued about across comment threads, podcasts, and late-night monologues.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Mel Brooks explained the title via video: it’s Spaceballs: The New One. That title is a wink and a dare—will it be a respectful sequel or a full-scale parody riot? Which gag will land and which will be pilloried online—are you ready to pick sides?