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Spaceballs is a 1987 American space opera parody film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. It primarily parodies the original Star Wars trilogy, but also other popular franchises such as Star Trek, Alien, The Wizard of Oz, , Planet of the Apes, and Transformers. The film stars Bill Pullman, John Candy, Rick Moranis and Daphne Zuniga, with the supporting cast including Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Lorene Yarnell, and the voice of Joan Rivers. In addition to Brooks' playing a dual role, the film features Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise and Rudy De Luca in .
In Spaceballs, heroic mercenary Lone Starr (Pullman) and his alien sidekick Barf (Candy) rescue Princess Vespa (Zuniga) of the planet Druidia and her droid, Dot Matrix (Yarnell, voiced by Rivers), from being captured by the Spaceballs, led by President Skroob (Brooks), who wants to use Vespa as ransom to obtain Druidia's air for their own planet. However, the heroes get stranded on a desert moon, where they encounter the wise Yogurt (also Brooks), who teaches Starr about the metaphysics known as "the Schwartz". Meanwhile, Spaceball commanders Dark Helmet (Moranis) and Colonel Sandurz (Wyner) lead the search for them, but are hindered by their own incompetence.
The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) on June 24, 1987. A sequel is in the early stages of development as of June 2025. Directed by Josh Greenbaum and co-written by Josh Gad and Brooks, the sequel will star Lewis Pullman, Keke Palmer, and Gad, with Brooks, Bill Pullman, Moranis, and Zuniga reprising their roles. The sequel has an anticipated theatrical release by MGM in 2027.
The four wander through the scorching landscape, with Starr and Vespa exchanging barbed remarks and mutual attraction. They cannot act on their feelings, however, as Vespa is duty-bound to marry a prince. They collapse from heat exhaustion but are rescued by the Dink-Dinks, a group of robed, diminutive aliens, and taken to the hidden temple of Yogurt, a wise sage who breaks the fourth wall to shamelessly advertise Spaceballs merchandise. Yogurt guides Starr in using the Schwartz, using a ring to channel its power. He also deciphers Starr's medallion—found with him as an abandoned baby—but withholds its meaning. Unable to locate Vespa, Helmet and Sandurz watch a VHS copy of Spaceballs and skip forwards in the film to find her. On the moon, Helmet uses the Schwartz to impersonate King Roland, tricking Vespa into revealing herself. She and Dot are captured and taken aboard Spaceball One; Starr and Barf give chase.
Helmet extorts the shield code from Roland by threatening to reverse Vespa's plastic surgery and restore her large nose. Starr and Barf infiltrate the prison on Planet Spaceball, rescue the captives (leaving stunt doubles behind as a distraction), and escape in Eagle5. With the shield code in hand, Spaceball One transforms into "Mega-Maid", a giant robot maid, and begins vacuuming Druidia's atmosphere. Using the Schwartz, Starr reverses the vacuum from "suck" to "blow", saving the planet. He pilots Eagle5 into Mega-Maid's head, finds the self-destruct button, and battles Helmet in a Schwartz duel using ring-projected lightsaber-like beams. Helmet steals Starr's ring and drops it down a grate, but he hears a telepathic message from Yogurt telling him: "The Schwartz is in you." Coming up with a plan to defeat Skroob, Helmet, and Sandurz, Starr wields the Schwartz to reflect Helmet's energy blast with a mirror, sending him flying into the self-destruct button. As Eagle5 escapes, Mega-Maid explodes. With their plan ending with disaster, Skroob, Helmet, and Sandurz are left behind when all the escape pods are taken. They crash-land in the remains of Mega-Maid on a nearby planet populated by intelligent apes, who are horrified to witness their arrival.
On Druidia, Starr and Barf learn that Pizza the Hutt locked himself in a limo and ate himself to death, clearing their debt. They return Vespa to her father but decline payment for rescuing her. Starr leaves, reluctantly accepting that Vespa must marry a prince. In space, Starr and Barf discover a final message from Yogurt hidden in a fortune cookie: the medallion proves Starr is a prince. They return to Druidia just in time to stop Vespa's wedding to Valium. Starr reveals his royal lineage and he and Vespa are joyously married.
Various actors and comedians appear in unnamed roles, with Sal Viscuso, Mike Pniewski, Stephen Tobolowsky, Robert Prescott, Tom Dreesen, Rick Ducommun, Rob Paulsen (who was uncredited), Tommy Swerdlow, and Tim Russ all appearing as soldiers of Dark Helmet. Additional unnamed appearances include Dey Young as a waitress, Jack Riley as a newsman covering the news about Pizza the Hutt's death, Ken Olfson as the head usher, and Bryan O'Byrne as an organist. Brenda Strong appears as Gretchen, Dr. Schlotkin's nurse, alongside Johnny Silver as Arnold, Dr. Schlotkin's caddy. Denise and Dian Gallup appear as Charlene and Marlene, two twin girls in Spaceball City who President Skroob keeps mixing up the names for. Ed Gale, Felix Silla, Tony Cox, Antonio Hoyos, Arturo Gil, and John Kennedy Hayden appear as the Dinks (based on the Jawas) while their uncredited voices are provided by Corey Burton, Phil Hartman, Tress MacNeille, John Paragon, and Rob Paulsen. John Hurt makes a cameo appearance as a parody of his character Gilbert Kane in the film Alien (1979). In the same scene archival recordings of William "Bill" Roberts' performance of "Hello! Ma Baby" as heard in the animated short film One Froggy Evening were used as the Xenomorph bursts out of Kane's chest and suddenly breaks into song and dance.
Brooks also had Lucas's company handle some post-production, saying, "I was playing ball with the people who could have said no." Lucas later sent Brooks a note saying how much he loved the film, including its story structure, and that he "was afraid he would bust something from laughing". According to Rick Moranis, "In the original script, the description of Dark was that the whole costume was one gigantic helmet. Then it got scaled back to just an exaggerated version of the Darth Vader helmet."
The bulk of the film's visual effects were executed by Apogee Inc., which was founded by former Industrial Light & Magic employee John Dykstra.
Pullman got the part of Lone Starr when Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft saw him in a play.Pullman had not seen Star Wars prior to filming Spaceballs. Brooks had been unsuccessfully trying to sign on big-name actors such as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks for the film. Pullman said,
Zuniga initially found Brooks' film parodies "too crass and not too funny" but, after working with Brooks, she said: "I have this image of Mel as totally wacko and out to lunch. And he is. But he's also really perceptive, real sensitive in ways that make actors respond."
"My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" was made into a hit in 1990 by Sally Moore (U.S. AC #42).
In the film, the Dinks (based on Jawas) perform the 1914 marching song "Colonel Bogey March", though they only sing the word "Dink" repeatedly in rhythm to the song rather than Whistling, parodying the scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai.
In 2006, La-La Land Records released Spaceballs – The 19th Anniversary Edition CD of the film's score, with bonus tracks of alternate takes and tracks not used in the film.
At the time of the film's release, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, and remarked "I enjoyed a lot of the movie, but I kept thinking I was at a revival... it should have been made several years ago, before our appetite for Star Wars satires had been completely exhausted." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that there were "just enough funny visual gags to recommend this wildly uneven film". Variety said that the film was a misguided parody and not very funny.
The film won Worst Picture at the 1987 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.
Tesla Motors has used the film's starship speeds (Light Speed, Ridiculous Speed, Ludicrous Speed, Plaid Speed) as inspiration for naming their acceleration modes. In homage to Spaceballs a Tesla has Ludicrous Mode for acceleration beyond its Insane Mode, and Plaid Mode, overtop Ludicrous.
A clip from the film, alongside clips of other Star Wars parody works, was used in a "special look" internet video used to promote in order to show the cultural impact of Star Wars.
In June 2025, Amazon MGM Studios announced that a Spaceballs sequel will be released theatrically by MGM in 2027. Imagine Entertainment will produce the sequel, with Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Jeb Brody as co-producers. Alongside this announcement, The Hollywood Reporter said that the film will star Lewis Pullman (Bill Pullman's real-life son) as Starburst, the son of Lone Starr and Vespa; and Keke Palmer as a character named Destiny, as well as Gad. Brooks will be reprising the role of Yogurt and President Skroob. According to Deadline Hollywood, both Bill Pullman and Rick Moranis are returning, reprising Lone Starr and Dark Helmet, respectively, while The Wrap confirmed that Daphne Zuniga will reprise her role as Princess Vespa. According to the press release, the film has been described by those who have not yet read the script as "A Non-Prequel Non-Reboot Sequel Part Two but with Reboot Elements Franchise Expansion Film".
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