With the resurgence of Star Wars after the success of The Force Awakens, combined with our general love of nostalgia, there’s never been a more perfect time for a Spaceballs sequel to happen. And while there’s still no official word on Spaceballs 2, posters that appeared in a New York subway station are making people believe once again in the power of the Schwartz.
People started to notice the Spaceballs posters a few days ago. They popped up in the Union Square subway station, as evidenced by the 14th St. and 4th Av. sign in the top-right corner of the image. The three identical posters feature the mangled helmet of Dark Helmet—a direct nod to Darth Vader’s helmet, now in Kylo Ren’s possession in The Force Awakens—and they capture the tone of the original movie (and its long-running merchandising gag) with the rather appropriate title Spaceballs: The Search for More Money, the Teaser Poster.
The name alludes to a line from Yogurt (Mel Brooks), who says, “God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.” This was long before nostalgia reboot culture became mainstream.
The posters also appear to feature tiny Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) logos in the bottom-right corner. MGM distributed the original film.
In recent years, Brooks hasn’t ruled out making Spaceballs 2. In an interview with Adam Carolla in 2015, he talked about the possibility of a sequel—especially in light of The Force Awakens.
“And I’m thinking now, if I said, if I did a movie that came out right after Star Wars comes out, you know,maybe a couple of months later, Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, I’d have a big weekend, you know, no matter what, even if it fell on its ass and you know, didn’t get that money back,” Brooks told Carolla. “But that first weekend, the anticipation of seeing Spaceballs 2, would, you know…I still have Daphne Zuniga and I still have Rick Moranis if he’d do it, and I’ve still got me.”
While fans who saw the posters online or in the subway doubted their authenticity, it was enough for some of them to start getting excited. Well, mostly.
If this is real, this is amazing! Supposedly spotted in a NYC subway today #spaceballs pic.twitter.com/45fykr5dfR
— GIODUDE (@giocorsi) February 25, 2016
@N12jamiestuart But…is it real? https://t.co/N11lLd3PzS
— Brian Sandler (@_BrianSandler) February 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/Clack_Sam/status/702881107759472640
#OhMyGod!!! #SpaceBalls 2 is happening!!! https://t.co/LpEouZ2txC
— Assaf Ben Yitzhak 🎗️🏳️🌈🇮🇱🕊️🇵🇸🇱🇧 (@sysqo82) February 25, 2016
((You don’t actually want a Spaceballs 2, you just think you do))
— Spencer Perry (@TheSpencerPerry) February 25, 2016
Although the posters capture the essence of Brooks’s Spaceballs, they are almost certainly fake. They’re hanging off the wall with nothing more than tape, and while that could suggest a viral marketing campaign to gauge interest, it would be odd to place them in only one subway station.
Neither MGM nor the Metropolitan Transit Authority responded to requests for comment.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether the posters were officially commissioned, hung up by a fan, or just a giant prank. As Deadpool proved, if there’s enough buzz around a viral stunt (whether distributed by fans or someone closer to the project), that buzz could make things real.
H/T Comic Book | Photo via Paul L/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Max Fleishman
