Some readers might remember in 1987, when Mel Brooks, who was already a legendary comic director, decided to make a very big budget science fiction comedy with Spaceballs. The film was not well-received upon its initial release, but it has grown into cult status. Even in the first one, a sequel was more than teased, and there has been a recent announcement that Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, as promised in the first film, will soon be released.
Nerdist reports that Mel Brooks, the director, producer, and actor (with two roles) of the first Spaceballs film is currently writing a sequel. Brooks hopes that he can start filming in 2016, and hopes to have as much of the original cast as possible.
This could be a problem, as John Candy, who played Barf, a Chewbacca parody character passed away in 1994. Any comedian/actor who attempts the role might just come off as looking as an impersonator. The same problem is also for Joan Rivers, who was the voice of a C-3PO parody named Dot and passed away in 2014, but that could be easier to replace. In fact, one line of dialogue would fix that as Dot could be "reprogrammed" with a new voice.
There are doubts whether or not Rick Moranis, who is semi-retired, would return to play Dark Helmet, an obvious Darth Vader parody. Moranis last live-action movie was Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves back in 1997, but still occasionally does voice work, as in Disney's Brother Bear. It would be terrific to see him in film again, reprising one of his most famous roles.
Asking Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) could also prove problematic as they have aged thirty years since the first film. It is possible that perhaps Mel Brooks wants to give Spaceballs a Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens treatment. That is, introduce older versions of the space heroes to the audience while also introducing new characters as well. Perhaps he wants to make a trilogy of these comic films.
The issue with Spaceballs is it was attempted as an animated series in 2008, and it was not well-received. This wasn't a case for someone buying the rights to Spaceballs and attempting to cash-in on the name, either. This show was also written by Mel Brooks, and he voiced his original characters as well. Daphne Zuniga and Joan Rivers reprised their roles, while everyone else was played by different actors than the live-action version. The animated series attempted to satirize popular science-fiction movies like Spider-Man and Jurassic Park in each episode, and it essentially didn't work.
The first live-action film did essentially succeed in satirizing many popular science-fiction franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, and even Alien, and the film has found its audience among speculative fiction enthusiasts who are looking for a laugh. These are the same people that want Brooks to do it again, and it might just work this time around.
