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Mel Brooks Says 'Spaceballs' Sequel In The Works 427

BlueDino writes "Several news sites are reporting that Mel Brooks will release a sequel to Spaceballs. As far as a release date, Brooks says, 'Best case scenario: a week before the new Star Wars opens. Worst Case Scenario: a year after the new star wars opens.'"
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Mel Brooks Says 'Spaceballs' Sequel In The Works

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  • goody (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kippy ( 416183 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:05AM (#10383508)
    Maybe this will be as good as Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Oh wait, that sucked.

    Mel's great but he jumped the shark after Young Frankenstein, Blazing Sadles and the Producers.
  • Yay! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slavemowgli ( 585321 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:06AM (#10383512) Homepage
    Wow, that certainly is one movie I'll be looking forward to. Let's just hope it'll be able to live up to the quality and humour of first Spaceballs movie instead of ending up as yet another crappy and unfunny sequel; given Mel Brooks' mixed movie history (which included some really funny stuff, but also some rather crappy failed attempts) I'm not sure just what to expect, but I do hope for the best.
  • Haha finally! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TheKubrix ( 585297 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:06AM (#10383517) Homepage
    I remember as a kid when that movie came out there was all these rumors (hey were little kids!) that they were coming out with Spaceballs 3: The search for Spaceballs 2. Anyone else hear that?
  • Jon Candy is dead... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JeeNam ( 758886 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:07AM (#10383537)
    ...so who will play Barf?
  • by networkBoy ( 774728 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:08AM (#10383546) Journal
    "Yet another classic ruined by an unnecessary sequel."

    I'm not so sure about this. If anyone but Mel was doing it I'd agree with you 100%. As it is I think it has the possibility of being even better than the first one.

    I rarely watch movies in the theater (I hate crowds for one, and don't have the disposable income for another). This is one that I will be in line for, if only to add a couple bucks to Mel's pocket and to let the movie conglomerates know that real comedy is still sellable.

    -nB
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:10AM (#10383566)
    Yoghurt and the first one was the best experience I've had making a movie since Blazing Saddles.

    I wish I could say the same for the audience. I love Brook's work, but by the time this came out, he was well past his best work. The Producers may be okay (as Broadway musicals go, which ain't far) but it's still older the Young Frankenstein or High Anxiety. The parody is very tired for all but the most slavish Star Wars fans.
  • by unlinear ( 235476 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:14AM (#10383609)
    If Brooks really wants to do a good satire, he'll open SpaceBalls II with a flashback to the Yogurt scene 'SpaceBalls II' and then re-dub the dialogue to have a different title for SpaceBalls. Preferably by one of those bad-asian-flick re-dub voice actors, clearly re-dubbed and badly synched.

    It'd be the perfect jab at Lucas's revisional approach to Star Wars...
  • Great Idea (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MandoSKippy ( 708601 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:16AM (#10383630)
    The Star wars prequels have created so much stuff to parady it's unbelievable. I think they shoudl scrap the idea of a sequel and do a prequel. Adding young barf, lonestars father. (Could be darth helmet) So much story possibilty here. I have been telling co-workers for a while that we have needed a sequel/prequel to spaceballs. I'm wearing plaid to the theater!!!
  • Maybe he's joking? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Monofilament ( 512421 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:16AM (#10383634) Homepage Journal
    Well i know i've read interviews with Brooks where he has said, pretty plainly, that he doesn't believe in sequals. This mounted with the fact that he jokingly refers to sequals in his movie. I'd really think that this may be some sort of offhand comment he was making just to stir things up. He does to comedy afterall!!!

    Though on the other hand, if he made a sequal to anything it'd might as well be Spaceballs, with all the deal with the Star Wars Pre-quals.

    Who knows.. he could be serious
  • Re:We knew this.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by DenDave ( 700621 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:19AM (#10383683)
    They did din't they.. but then at the end of history of the world part 1 they promised us Hitler on Ice and Jews in Space but they never got any of it done.. must be all that high anxiety in show business, or was it Joan Rivers that got pregnant? Oh whatever, just get me to Mr. Coffee...
  • by DLWormwood ( 154934 ) <wormwood@me.PARIScom minus city> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:24AM (#10383739) Homepage
    Best case scenario: a week before the new Star Wars opens

    Even assuming that Brooks can do the film low budget to get it green-lighted quickly, is it even possible to produced a mass-marketable motion picture in just 8 months? Even indie flukes like Blair Witch took time to gain momentum during production, and there's still the editing, distribution and merchandising infrastructure that must be deployed. That is where the real money from the movie is made, you know.

    I just don't see this happening, especially since the material being parodied doesn't lend itself to a low budget. You just have to have enough SFX to make it look like a sci-fi flick, after all...

    That said, I would like to see the follow-up to the "instant cassette" gag; that one got dated real quick, didn't it?

  • by YankeeInExile ( 577704 ) * on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:25AM (#10383757) Homepage Journal

    Recently, I came across Spaceballs on TV here, with subtitles, and the subtitling sometimes takes liberty with the script - for example to translate idiomatically.

    When it came to the scene where they went to get the video of the movie to see what happened later, the subtitles diverged FAR from the original dialog in a much funnier way. Instead of "home video" the source of the film was....
    Pirates.
    Pirates?
    Yes, Pirates. Piracy has become so rampant, that you can now get a copy of the movie before it is even finished!

    Which is especially funny here, because often you can get pirated VCDs or VHS copies of movies before they're even released locally. The quality is horrendous, and the subtitling is

    WRTN LK PPL TALK IN CHAT ROOMS
    .

    Just for a price-check: A VHS copy of a film is about a dollar eighty, and a VCD is two dollars fifty. DVDs are sometimes burned, and they sell for four or five bucks. Bit-copies of commercial DVDs sell for as much as ten bucks.

  • Mega Maid (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jakel2k ( 736582 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:26AM (#10383759)
    Sweeet, with new CGI Mega Maid would be the bomb. But will they try to use the original cast were possible? (John Candy has passed on so Barf should be no longer be kept in the story... pay some respect to the guy.)

    Will it be Lone Stars kids? What about Dark Helmet? Are they going to have Rick Moranis back as the Dark Lord?

    Yogert anyone??? How about Raspberry Jam???
  • Good news... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hencethus ( 750090 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:26AM (#10383774)
    ...but I'm still waiting for Men in Tights on DVD!
  • by AdolChristin ( 694990 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:32AM (#10383853) Journal
    If, as has been suggested here, they go the Prequel route, Jack Black as a young Barf would be awesome! Good call!
  • by sgant ( 178166 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:33AM (#10383869) Homepage Journal
    I actually worked on the original Space Balls. I was a production assistant at the now defunct Apogee which did the effects for the film.

    Apogee was the original ILM near Van Nuys airport, but John Dykstra kept it after ILM moved north. It was cool working there seeing some of the original models of the X-wing in the lobby of Apogee.

    But this was way before CGI came to the scene.
  • Re:Yay! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bonker ( 243350 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:34AM (#10383892)
    Brooks' stuff is uneven, but some of it is great.

    Remember that a great deal of his directoral work is influenced heavily by 30s and 40s movie direction techniques, with long, drawn out pauses, long establishing shots, and great care to extract maximum emotional impact from the viewer. It relies more on in-jokes, subtle ethnic humor, and wild-takes.

    Compare to today's comedies, which are influenced by the dramatically shorter attention span created by TV, Video games, and the intrnet. They rely more on extremely visual humor rather than situational humor and cut establishment to the bare minimum. Satires in particular rely on deadpan 'straight man' jokes, at a pace that seems rapid-fire in comparison to earlier works.

    I'm not saying one format is better. They're just different formats. Don't group Brooks with the Farelli Brothers or Mike Meyers any more than you'd group Peter Jackson with Alfred Hitchcock.

    I submit that 'Men in Tights' would have been an *incredible* film if only it had been edited differently.
  • MOD PARENT UP (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:41AM (#10383982)
    You have made my day. Thank you.
  • Re:goody (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:44AM (#10384012)
    I'm not sure if you realize this, but Mel Brooks recently turned his old Producers movie into the most financially successful (and one of the funniest) Broadway shows ever. I paid an ungodly sum for two Orchestra seats, not once but twice, during the recent "revival" of the Nathan Lane/Matthew Broadrick casting, once to bring my mother and once a lady friend.


    Anyway, the point is that while much of his work in the 90s was pure crap, his career can now officially be considered back off life support.

  • by MoeMoe ( 659154 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:50AM (#10384129)
    Dark Helmet: "How many assholes do we have on this ship anyhow?"

    Crew: "YO!"

    Dark Helmet: "I knew it! I'm surrounded by assholes... Keep firing assholes!"



    That part always made me laugh... I think they're gonna stick with what made the first movie funny and play off of how badly the new Star Wars movies turned out (IMHO ofcourse). That would explain why we haven't seen a sequel yet, Mel was just waiting to play off of George Lucas again... Well played, Mel.
  • Re:goody (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:52AM (#10384146)
    Oh, come on, I can't believe nobody here sees the pattern. GOOD Mel Brooks movies have Gene Wilder in them. BAD Mel Brooks movies don't.
  • by MustardMan ( 52102 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:55AM (#10384199)
    Since we're being informative, I will also point out that the Jews in Space tune seems to be a Mel Brooks favorite.
    Compare...

    We're Jews, we're Jews in space...
    Patrolling the skies defending the Hebrew race

    with

    We're men, we're men in tights
    We roam around the forest looking for fights


    I love Mel Brooks as much as the next geek, but it's amusing to see what a one-trick pony he is sometimes.
  • by Odd John ( 806803 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:56AM (#10384213)
    Mel Brooks was brilliant when he was teamed up with Gene Wilder. That's why Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were wonderful.

    Mel Brooks without Gene Wilder is mediocre at best.
  • by neehon ( 450013 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:07PM (#10384358) Homepage
    What I'm really looking forward to, is to see sequel to "History of the World, Part I" [imdb.com], which was announced at the end of the movie: "History of the World, Part II: Jews In Space". Star Warescue hexagon (Star of David) shaped spaceships, shooting at some target with Star War sounds were hilarious.
  • by CrazyTalk ( 662055 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:07PM (#10384367)
    It sucks as much as his last several movies. Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for the man and like so many others loved his early stuff - but nothing lately (Witness "Men in Tights") has been nearly as good.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:38PM (#10384750)
    Go Mell Brooks ! Please make something funny!

    Not only should you Mock Lucas - but like the
    'Scary Movie' movies, toss in a few mocking scenes for
    other popular sci fi - just a few...
    star trek (any one)
    battlestar galactica
    I, Robot (have bots working at $tar-Buck$ coffee!)
    X-files (oh please mock them!)
    Men in Black
    and working some good mocking of:
    Titanic (in space)
    Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (I don't know how - your the writer!)
    and The Passion
    - go for it! Mel Gibson SHOULD be mocked by Mel Brooks!

    I Look forward to buying the tickets! :-)
  • by sgant ( 178166 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @01:05PM (#10385108) Homepage Journal
    All the misinformation in your post makes me question your original assertion that you ever worked in the space balls movie.

    I hope others catch you in your lies and mod you down to -5 liar.


    Actually, you're very wrong indeed. ILM DID start at the same facilities as Apogee...I know, I was fucking there. Where YOU there? Of course not, course, couldn't prove it either way since you hid behind an anonymous coward post.

    Apogee didn't start up shop until AFTER ILM moved north, Dykstra remained behind and went on his own and did Battlestar Galactica.

    Hell, you can even look at old pictures of them doing the original Star Wars where they're out in the parking lot shooting some of the Death Star scenes. That was the same parking lot at Apogee!

    Sheesh. Also, I was a production assistant, which ment that I took film to the lab...that's it. I didn't work on the film per-se...I was a peon. Want the name and address of the Lab I took the film to also?
  • by korbin_dallas ( 783372 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @01:07PM (#10385133) Journal
    Sorry I disagree. There is no evidence for your claim. The genius behind blazing saddles was the writers which included Richard Pryor but not Wilder. And Cleavon Little made the movie. Young Frankenstein was written by Wilder. I see no correlation.
  • Re:I disagree. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by The Infamous Grimace ( 525297 ) <emailpsc@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @01:13PM (#10385185) Homepage
    Doesn't Lucas realize that Empire Strikes Back...was the best of the Star Wars movies?

    Gotta disagree, and say that Star Wars was the best. Empire was good, but Star Wars stood by itself. Involving, action-packed, love-interest that wasn't predominant or over-bearing, and most importantly, a solid ending. Empire needed a sequel, 'cause of the questions it left (Han, Darth/Luke etc.)

    (tig)
  • Hells Ya (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hard_Code ( 49548 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @01:28PM (#10385363)
    Fuck that soap opera in space Star Wars.

    But who will play Barf now that Candy is dearly departed? :'(

    may the yogurt be with you
  • Classic Mel (Score:2, Interesting)

    by davidmcw ( 97565 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @02:16PM (#10385910) Homepage
    On his death bed in 'Mad About You', when he is trying to persuade them to name the baby after him. You could just tell that every scene he was in was barely scripted and a lot of fun.

    Young Frankenstein, although not with him in it, is is classic humour....
  • Remastered version? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Comrade64 ( 799539 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @02:51PM (#10386302)


    Does this mean he's going to digitally remaster the first Spaceballs? Will we see that never before seen footage of Pizza the Hutt at the spaceport?

    Hurry and buy the original Spaceballs before you can't get anything but the remastered version!
  • Re:Obligatory (Score:2, Interesting)

    by niteice ( 793961 ) <icefragment@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @03:13PM (#10386531) Journal
    Will they be able to change the Instant Videocasettes?

    (note: for a seriously 'damn...'-inducing monent, watch that scene on the dvd version. you really notice the quality between dvd and vhs.)

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