Rick Moranis appears on the big screen for the first time in 30 years in “Spaceballs 2” footage

Key points

• Rick Moranis appeared as Dark Helmet in Spaceballs 2 footage that screened at CinemaCon 2026.

• Spaceballs 2 marks Moranis’ first live-action performance in a movie in 30 years.

• Moranis appeared at CinemaCon alongside Spaceballs costars Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga to promote the upcoming sequel.

Rick Moranis is back.

The Honey, I Shrunk the Kids actor appeared on stage during Amazon MGM’s CinemaCon presentation on Wednesday to promote Spaceballs 2, the long-awaited sequel to Mel Brooks’ 1987 sci-fi parody.

Moranis is reprising his role as Dark Helmet, marking his first live-action performance in a movie since 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

Dark Helmet’s face is covered by his mask for most of the rapid-fire trailer for the film, but in a key scene at the end, Moranis stands at a urinal, and a massive Na’vi from Avatar arrives at a much-taller urinal right next to him.

Flabbergasted, Moranis says, “I see you” in the Na’vi language — a reference to the repeated mantra throughout James Cameron’s sci-fi saga — and puts on 3D glasses as he gazes at the alien’s groin.

In a pre-recorded video, Brooks also revealed the official title: Spaceballs: The New One.

Lewis Pullman and Bill Pullman in Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025
Credit: Michael Buckner/Getty

Moranis was joined on stage by his original Spaceballs costars Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga, as well as new Spaceballs 2 cast members Lewis Pullman (the son of Bill) and Josh Gad. Gad also co-wrote and produced the project, alongside Brian Grazer, Brooks, and director Josh Greenbaum, who joined the cast at the presentation.

The Ghostbusters actor’s last live-action theatrical film role came in 1996’s Big Bully. He also lent his voice to Disney’s 2003 animated movie Brother Bear and its 2006 direct-to-video sequel. He also briefly reprised his SCTV character, Bob McKenzie, for the 2007 one-off TV special Bob & Doug McKenzie’s Two-Four Anniversary. He voiced Dark Helmet in a dream sequence in a 2018 episode of The Goldbergs and appeared in a 2020 Mint Mobile commercial opposite Ryan Reynolds.

Mel Brooks in ‘Spaceballs’
Credit: Everett Collection

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Moranis stepped back from screen acting after his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky, died from breast cancer in 1991. “I was working with really interesting people, wonderful people,” he told THR in 2015. “I went from that to being at home with a couple of little kids, which is a very different lifestyle. But it was important to me. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. My life is wonderful.”

Spaceballs 2 hits theaters on April 23, 2027.

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