The first peek at Space Jam 2 shows LeBron James on the court next to Bugs Bunny. Joe Pytka's original 1996 live action-animated combination movie reimagined a particular time during Michael Jordan's basketball career and added in various Looney Tunes characters. Space Jam made over $230 million at the box office and is now a beloved 90s cult classic among kids and adults with a well-known theme song.
Plans for a sequel have been discussed and dropped over the years, beginning with a potential follow-up only a year after the first movie premiered. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. dropped the idea when Jordan didn't sign on to participate. The pitch for the movie Looney Toons: Back in Action began as a sequel to Space Jam starring Jackie Chan but eventually morphed into an action-comedy with Brendan Fraser as the lead. Warner Bros. announced that Space Jam 2 was in the works in 2014 with a new star basketball player, LeBron James, taking Jordan's place. Malcolm D. Lee, who's directed comedies like Roll Bounce and Girls Trip, was brought on to direct the sequel. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler produced and co-wrote the script with Sev Ohanian (Run), which is titled Space Jam: A New Legacy.
Footage of the upcoming sequel can be glimpsed in a trailer HBO Max recently shared of the many Warner Bros. movies releasing on the service. The studio is releasing all of its 2021 movies on the streaming service, including Godzilla vs Kong and The Matrix 4. In the brief clip, James and Bugs Bunny look intimidated as they face off with virtual opponents in a VR basketball game James must win to escape the video game he's been trapped inside. Look out for James and Bugs Bunny on the court (at around the 0:06 mark) in between shots of WB's other movies forthcoming this year:
As MJ did in the original, LeBron plays himself, a successful NBA player, in Space Jam 2. James' son Bronny is also a character in the movie, but he's played by actor Ceyair J. Wright. LeBron and Bronny, an aspiring video game developer, are trapped in virtual reality when a VR game goes wrong. In order to escape the game, James and his team of Looney Tunes toons must defeat the algorithm's digital opponents in a basketball game. In addition to starring, James is also a producer on Space Jam: A New Legacy, which co-stars Don Cheadle, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Cedric Joe. The movie will stream on HBO Max on July 16, 2021.
It's too bad that a Space Jam 2 starring MJ will never come to be, but the greatest-of-all-time ball player's absence may ultimately be for the best. With its magical combination of cartoon characters and famous basketball stars, the truly unique movie holds a special place in many 90s kids' hearts that would be tough to re-occupy. An updated version with LeBron James, a bonafide all-star athlete in the same vein as Jordan, feels like a better way to bring Space Jam into the future. James has a career legacy of his own that's well worth exploring in a movie, and his talent as a comedic actor makes him the perfect silly co-star for a cast of cartoons.
Source: HBO Max
