Mel Brooks making ‘Spaceballs’ sequel starring Josh Gad
Comedy legend and 97-year-old Mel Brooks is producing a “Spaceballs” sequel starring Josh Gad.
Brooks and Gad are producing the movie for Amazon MGM Studios based on a screenplay by Gad and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” writers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez.
Josh Greenbaum (“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) will direct.
No other casting information was announced.
“My phone has never exploded as hard as it did today,” Gad captioned an Instagram post about the news. “We are very excited! Early days still, but working with the legendary Mel freaking Brooks to make something worthy of this franchise and his legacy has been a dream come true. … We are doing everything in our power alongside Mel to make sure you get what you’ve waited 37 long years for. EVERYTHING #maytheschwartzbewithyou”
Gad teased his excitement about an upcoming project in another Instagram post several weeks ago.
“Just handed in a film script that I think may be the funniest and best thing I’ve ever worked on and I am so freaking excited,” Gad captioned a photo of a redacted script cover page.
Plot details are being kept under wraps but the amount of “Star Wars” and other sci-fi material available to satirize has only grown since Brooks’ first parody movie.
The original “Spaceballs” — which was released in theaters 37 years ago, and 10 years after “Star Wars” — starred Brooks, Bill Pullman, John Candy, Daphne Zuniga, Joan Rivers, Rick Moranis and Dick Van Patten. A minor box office hit at the time, it gained cult status on home video and as a staple of cable TV.
The new project marks the second sequel Brooks has been involved with in recent years after producing 2023’s “History of the World: Part II,” a follow-up to 1981’s “History of the World: Part I.” That sequel was released on Hulu.
Brooks also received the Career Achievement Award at the Peabody Awards earlier this month.
More in Arts & Entertainment
