New Space Jam: A New Legacy story details reveal the movie will follow LeBron James saving his son from virtual reality. For years, details about a Space Jam sequel have been kept under wraps, but they are now finally being revealed. Announced in 2014, Space Jam: A New Legacy is the long-awaited, highly-anticipated followup to the 1996 hit Space Jam starring NBA great Michael Jordan. The movie grossed over $230 million worldwide, spawned a billion-dollar merchandise empire, and helped cement Jordan’s status as a global icon.
The original Space Jam saw Jordan team up with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes to form the Tune Squad and take on an opposing team of cartoon aliens called the Monstars who stole the talent of other NBA greats. Though, Space Jam: A New Legacy is expected to be about more than just basketball. A father of three, James has previously stated the Space Jam sequel will be “more of a family movie” revolving around him parenting his fictional son Dom, played by 16-year-old Cedric Joe, which also happens to be the age of LeBron’s real-life son Bronny James, a budding basketball star.
Now, more plot details about the movie’s father-son dynamic are coming to light. An EW exclusive reveals James will be playing a “heightened version of himself” with a fictional family. The movie’s main conflict will be James struggling to relate to his son Dom, whose main interest is creating video games. Eventually, Dom’s tech skills catch the attention of a CGI humanoid named Al-G Rhythm, played by Don Cheadle, who manages to trap the father-son duo in the “Warner 3000 entertainment Server-verse” and James must reassemble the Looney Tunes in order to defeat the formidable Goon Squad and escape the digital world.
To round out the cast, Sonequa Martin-Green will play LeBron’s wife Kamiyah, Ceyair Wright his oldest son Darius, and Harper Leigh Alexander his daughter Xosha. The sequel’s virtual reality sequences will also feature famous characters from Warner Brothers' biggest movies, according to director Malcolm D. Lee, who specifically mentions Mad Max, Casablanca, The Matrix, and Wonder Woman. Judging by the first-look photos, there appears to be a whole crop of Warner Bros. characters spectating the game courtside. It is difficult to identify many of them, but the Penguin from the 1966 Batman series appears to be there.
James made his big-screen debut in 2015 with Trainwreck and showed chops as an actor, so it will be interesting to see him take on a starring role. Producer Ryan Coogler says Space Jam: A New Legacy will be an “examination of Black fatherhood and how fatherhood could be unique to LeBron James specifically.” With all its daffy plot details aside, the Space Jam sequel sounds like it has a real emotional core to it. Space Jam: A New Legacy premieres on HBO Max and in theaters on July 16, 2021.
Source: EW
