I shoved through Hall H and froze at the chant—three syllables that felt like an invitation and a verdict. You could see people recalculating their expectations in real time. I had to remind myself to breathe before the panel even started.
I’m telling you this because I was there, and because the mood of that room explains why Spaceballs: The New One didn’t feel like a sequel screening so much as a small holiday. You’ll get the facts—who returned, what was shown, and why the room kept laughing—but you’ll also see what the reaction means for a franchise that’s been waiting in the wings for 40 years.
I was in the crowd when Mel Brooks opened with a video and the panel hit a high note — the cast reassembled with Rick Moranis standing in for the heart of the old film.
The panel began with Brooks himself introducing the evening through video, a warm, mischief-filled moment. Then the search for Rick Moranis turned Hall H into a scene from the original: actors with oversized combs marched the aisles, finding masked fans until one was unmasked and the man himself walked onstage. The chant—“Rick, Rick, Rick”—was short, tribal, and earned. It was the first Comic-Con for Moranis and it landed like a reunion dinner turned roast.
When is Spaceballs: The New One released?
The film opens on April 23, 2027. Mark it, set whatever alerts you use—Ticketmaster, Fandango, or your calendar—and expect the marketing machine to start accelerating from here.
I was standing near the moderator when Kevin Smith asked Josh Gad how this all began — and the answer sounded like a Hollywood cold call that worked.
Josh Gad said he cold-called Mel Brooks and pitched for 40 minutes. Brooks may not have understood every sentence, but he loved the idea: the joke that Spaceballs is the perfect way to catch modern audiences up with 40 years of sci-fi and franchise culture. Gad framed the film as a thank-you to John Candy and other departed cast members, and as a meta-commentary on the reboot economy that’s grown into a steady, theatrical habit.
Is Rick Moranis in the new Spaceballs?
Yes. Moranis took the stage to thunderous applause and called his decision to return “one of the best he’s ever made.” He said the timing and script were right, and the footage shown later confirmed he’s woven into the emotional center of the movie.
I watched the footage director Josh Greenbaum shot of Brooks reuniting with old castmates — the hugs, the tears, the decades collapsing into a single take.
Greenbaum captured Brooks reuniting with Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, and Moranis. The scenes were tender and slightly funny: these actors have kept in touch, but hadn’t seen each other on a set in decades. Brooks recorded his Yogurt performance in a studio because at age 100 he didn’t shoot on location, and the production used facial capture for his face—originally with dots, which Brooks removed when they bothered him. That attention to his comfort was a production detail that landed with the audience.
I heard a note about Bill Pullman that made the room laugh — his son read a letter that didn’t mention him at all.
Pullman was absent, shooting elsewhere, but he sent a letter. Lewis Pullman read it and got emotional talking about finally working with his father, which was funny because the letter itself didn’t mention Lewis. It was the kind of awkward, affectionate moment the original Spaceballs would have mined for laughs.
I watched Keke Palmer dodge character details with the sort of smile that told you she’s having the time of her life.
Palmer wouldn’t give specifics about Destiny beyond that she loved the role and found the script extremely funny. Josh Gad was coy about his part, confirming only that he isn’t playing Barf but is another Mawg. That playful secrecy kept curiosity alive throughout the panel.
I scribbled notes when the panel announced the cinematic plans — they called the new franchise the Almighty Schwartz Saga, and the audience howled.
The panel revealed that Spaceballs: The New One will kick off a cinematic universe cheekily called the Almighty Schwartz Saga, or the ASS. They flashed a slide with multiple spin-offs and projects—an ASSwhole of screens, as they quipped—so fast the crowd couldn’t parse them all. The move is clearly a wink at the current franchise era; it’s a commercial plan and a comedy gag rolled together into a single strategy.
LOL the Spaceballs Cinematic Saga announced! (This is only part of it) pic.twitter.com/6q8UF4eOFq
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) July 24, 2026
I watched the teaser reel and felt a collage of familiar jokes and new stabs at spectacle — the trailer was packed with gags that land and some that trade on memory.
The footage echoed what played at CinemaCon: Yogurt in Carbonite called “Frozen Yogurt,” Dark Helmet dueling with claw-like lightsabers, “Spaceballs: The Exercise Ball,” Destiny using a flamethrower, and a Game of Thrones–style gag of white-haired characters kissing. There’s a sequence where kid versions of characters tumble from the sky, and a “Reboot” button presses the film into a trippy montage that mixes new scenes with the VHS-era aesthetic of the original. The reel closed with the Avatar joke that had already circulated online.
Who stars in Spaceballs: The New One?
The film stars Rick Moranis, Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Lewis Pullman, Anthony Carrigan, George Wyner, Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman, and Mel Brooks. It’s a blend of legacy names and newer faces, calibrated to play to long-time fans and casual ticket-buyers alike.
I checked the official plot blurb and read it out loud to myself — it’s satirical, self-aware, and intentionally pokes at franchise fatigue.
Somehow, Dark Helmet has returned! Forty years after the events of the first Spaceballs, fifty years after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, and one year after the events of The Devil Wears Prada 2, the galaxy is once again under threat. A threat so evil, so unstoppable, so completely lacking in any original ideas, that it has vowed to bring back the past… every last bit of it.
With Lone Starr in hiding, Queen Vespa on the throne, and the Schwartz stretched thinner than a franchise releasing TV episodes theatrically, the only hope for the galaxy is Vespa’s undisciplined son, Prince Starburst, and a mysterious Palace advisor named Destiny. Together, they must find Lone Starr, Yogurt, and any other iconic legacy characters fans are demanding before they discover the hard way that, while some threats you can fight, the reboot is not one of them.
Production notes confirmed Brooks recorded in-studio with facial capture; the team leaned on nostalgia but also shot new business for modern audiences. If you follow io9, CinemaCon coverage, or Kevin Smith’s hosting work, this fits that pattern of franchise-friendly, fan-forward events used to build momentum months before release.
The panel felt both like a nostalgic reset and a clear play for streaming and theatrical attention—the footage was a Swiss Army knife of nostalgia, designed to tease every audience segment. That mix of sentiment and commerce is exactly what will determine whether the film becomes a cultural moment or a pleasant weekend diversion.
Spaceballs: The New One opens April 23, 2027. Will you be buying a ticket to see if the Schwartz still has the goods, or do you think this is one franchise reunion too far?