Spaceballs: The New One title explained by director Josh Greenbaum
Josh Greenbaum says Mel Brooks weighed in on why the Spaceballs sequel skipped The Search for More Money.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The Spaceballs: The New One title has already triggered the obvious fan question: what happened to The Search for More Money? Director Josh Greenbaum told Mashable that the sequel’s name was chosen with Mel Brooks involved, and that the answer is tied to both a joke and the new movie itself.
Greenbaum discussed the long-awaited follow-up to Brooks’ 1987 Star Wars spoof in an interview with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko. The conversation also covered Greenbaum’s pickleball comedy The Dink, which premiered on Apple TV, and came as Spaceballs: The New One was set for a San Diego Comic-Con panel.
The title issue goes back to a gag in the original Spaceballs. In that film, Brooks’ character Yogurt floats a possible return under the name Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, a joke that has stuck with fans for decades.
Why is Spaceballs: The New One not called The Search for More Money?
Greenbaum’s short answer: the old gag has been addressed in the sequel’s own announcement. He told Mashable, “If you didn't see our announcement video, Mel Brooks himself found the money. It was in his basement, and so he doesn't need any more money at this point.”
That keeps the joke alive without making it the official title. Greenbaum said the team liked the plain silliness of calling the sequel the new one because the original is now, by contrast, the old one.
He told Mashable, “We really love the idea of obviously there's the old one, and now this is the new one. We like the joke that this is, you know, 'It's just like the old one, but newer.' So, this is the new one.”
Greenbaum added that Brooks was part of the title conversation. According to the director, the team respected the original movie’s The Search for More Money joke, but decided that using it as the sequel’s title was not the right move for this film.
“We obviously discussed it with Mel,” Greenbaum told Mashable, adding that viewers will understand why the new title fits once they see the movie.
Who is returning for Spaceballs: The New One?
Spaceballs: The New One brings back several actors from the 1987 film, according to Mashable. Brooks, Bill Pullman, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, and Michael Winslow are all set to reprise their roles.
The sequel also adds new cast members Lewis Pullman, Keke Palmer, Anthony Carrigan, and Josh Gad.
Spaceballs is a parody of Star Wars and other space-opera adventure tropes, built around Brooks’ brand of broad spoof comedy. Spaceballs: The New One is the follow-up, arriving decades after the original film made its fake sequel title part of the joke.
Mashable reports that Spaceballs: The New One is scheduled to open in the United States on April 23, 2027.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.