The Schwartz has been awakened, as Spaceballs: The New One is set to grace the silver screen as part of the 2027 movie schedule. Producer Mel Brooks and co. announced the legacy sequel in 2025, and it was clear from the opening crawl-centric video that fans were in for a major spoof of a movie. Plot details have mostly been kept under wraps, but there’s now an official synopsis as well as a fresh, new poster. And, after seeing those, I can already say this film is delivering what I’ve been hoping to see from this upcoming flick.
Considering this is a Spaceballs movie we’re talking about here, it’s only fitting that the synopsis be meta and totally self-referential. That’s exactly what we get here, as the logline references an infamous Star Wars line from the jump, and that’s not all. Additionally, there’s even a reference to another long-hoped-for sequel that was released earlier this year. Check out the first portion of this summary, and I dare anyone not to chuckle at least once while reading it:
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.
I mean, how could the creative team not riff on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s “somehow, Palpatine returned” line while referencing the re-emergence of Rick Moranis’ Dark Helmet. What I wasn’t expecting was to see a reference to The Devil Wears Prada 2, but I’m not mad at it. The rest of the synopsis reads as follows:
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.
So it would seem Spaceballs: The New One is aiming to play on elements of 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For example in TFA, Leia helps head up the Resistance and, here Vespa, is now the head of the Druidian Throne. And, of course, the disappearances of Lone Starr and Yogurt parallel the absence of Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the Sequel Trilogy. I’m glad director Josh Greenbaum and co. are seeking to jump into outlandish new territory but, as the poster suggests, they also haven’t forgotten the franchise’s roots:
The “combing the desert” joke from Brook’s original 1987 film still holds up in my book, and it’s a perfect way to tease the movie by way of its first poster. What’s evident to me right now is that a lot of time and care has seemingly been put into making this sequel. This has particularly been a passion project for cast member/co-writer/producer Josh Gad, who pitched the movie to Mel Brooks. For a while now, Gad has kept fans updated on the production and, to that point, he also spoke out after the movie wrapped.
Gad will be joined in the film by several returning franchise veterans, including Brooks, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, George Wyner and Rick Moranis. As for series newcomers, there’s Lewis Pullman (who gets to work with dad Bill), Keke Palmer, Anthony Carrigan and Rowan Witt.
There’s still plenty of time before Spaceballs: The New One is released and, given footage hasn’t even been shown yet, I don’t want to get too excited yet. Still, if these early marketing materials are any indication, the Schwartz may be strong with this one. Check out the film when it opens in theaters on April 23, 2027.