While merchandising will always be where the real money from a movie gets made, Hollywood has found another way to keep the cash flowing: turn every successful movie into a franchise.
Long gone are the days of an original movie or even a simple trilogy. Now every successful movie has to become a sprawling cinematic universe, complete with years of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. Thanks to Marvel and the MCU, studios now map out multi-year phases years in advance.
I believe it was Lone Starr (or maybe it was Disney's Bob Iger) who once said, "We're not just doing this for money! We're doing it for a sh*t load of money!" That's pretty much how the movie industry operates these days.
That's exactly what Amazon MGM Studios poked fun at during its Spaceballs: The New One panel at San Diego Comic-Con. And like every great franchise these days, it's multiple years of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs that nobody asked for, highlighting c-tier storylines that nobody is interested in.
The audience was shown a mock roadmap of upcoming Spaceballs films stretching from Phase 1 all the way to Phase 9. Star Wars remains the main target, with fictional titles like Spaceballs: The Schwartz Awakens and Spaceballs: The Franchise Menace. But no franchise is off limits this time around, including Marvel, which the studio also mocked with Spaceballs: Super Duper Secret Wars, a subtle riff on Avengers: Secret Wars.
In Phase 2, we move to the prequel stories, including an entire four-film slate all about young Dark Helmet. Phase 3 is when we get into the spin-offs, Yogurt: Schwartz & All and Heroes of Druidia: Rogue Dumb.
It's all part of a three-phase saga that's being referred to as "Almighty Schwartz Saga," or "ASS." And that's part of a bigger cinematic universe known as the ASSwhole. Phase 4 jokingly runs through 2040, and after that all hell breaks loose with branching timelines, musicals, rides, and some sort of three-dimensional matrix. It's all a big parody of the current state of movies, especially the convoluted MCU, which has pretty much become a parody of itself at this point.
pic.twitter.com/Js76T9ERD0
— Spaceballs (@SpaceballsFilm) July 25, 2026
"The industry it was parodying is a very different industry than this one 40 years later," Josh Gad said of the original Spaceballs, and how the new movie is largely a reflection of how nostalgic the film industry has become. "We all sort of talked thematically about this word nostalgia. And we love movies that look back. We love sequels. We love continuing these stories we grew up with. We analyzed why that is, and we thought Spaceballs was the perfect vehicle to catch us up with everything that's happened in filmdom and in fan filmdom."
"When they made the first one, there was a trilogy to make fun of. Now there's a never ending fount," said Kevin Smith, who moderated the panel.
"We really wanted to dive into that," Gad added.
Look out, Kevin Feige -- the hierarchy of power in the Spaceballs Universe is about to change. The cast of 'Spaceballs: The New One' teases an entire SBCU that is sure to give both the MCU and the DCU a run for their money. 😭 pic.twitter.com/QKQroqut1M
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) July 25, 2026
The real highlight of the panel, though, was the appearance of Rick Moranis, who's returning from a 30-year acting hiatus to reprise his role as Lone Starr's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate, Dark Helmet.
Rick Moranis didn't come to the stage when called at the start of the #Spaceballs panel and then this happened. #SDCC pic.twitter.com/yBMjX2I8WV
— Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) July 24, 2026
Moranis joked that he was never actually retired from acting, but simply negotiating his return. He also explained what finally brought him back after a 30-year break.
"The truth is that I had to say yes to this thing. It was the only way I could get Josh Gad to stop texting me," Moranis joked. "Actually, I started talking to Mel about the sequel back in 1989. We kept talking about it over the years. I really wasn't retired, I was just negotiating."
"But no, this came along right at the right time, and I started talking to these folks and hearing who was going to be in it," he finally admitted. "I heard Bill Pullman was coming back, that Lewis was going to be in it too, and it just felt like this is it. It's time, and yeah, I said yes, and it's honestly the best decision I've made."
Rick Moranis says he started talks for a "Spaceballs" sequel back in 1989.
"I really wasn't retired. I was just negotiating." pic.twitter.com/EusDRWq6O9
— Variety (@Variety) July 24, 2026
Moranis isn't the only original cast member returning. Bill Pullman is back as Lone Starr, Daphne Zuniga as Vespa, and Mel Brooks as President Skroob and Yogurt (which we know will be CGI as opposed to the gold makeup). They're joined by newcomers Lewis Pullman, who will play Starburst, the son of Lone Starr and Vespa, as well as Josh Gad and Keke Palmer. Gad confirmed his character is a Mog/Mawg, but was quick to clarify it's not Barf, or Barf's son.
"That is a role that will only ever be played by one person," he said, referring to the late John Candy.
While event audiences have been treated to various snippets of the film, the studio still hasn't shared any footage online for the masses. We do, however, have an official synopsis now.
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.
Spaceballs: The New One flies into theaters next year on April 23, 2027.