Space Jam: A New Legacy
Short description
LeBron James plays a version of himself in this animated adventure, a follow-up to the 1996 film that paired Michael Jordan with the Looney Tunes. While visiting the Warner Bros. studios with his son Dom, LeBron is pulled into a digital world controlled by a malfunctioning artificial intelligence. To bring the boy home, he has to rally Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes and lead them onto the basketball court against a team of digitised champions assembled by the AI. The story turns on the clash between a father who wants things done his way and a group of characters who refuse to follow anyone's rules.
Malcolm D. Lee directed, working from a screenplay by Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon and Juel Taylor, with LeBron James, Ryan Coogler and Duncan Henderson among the producers. Don Cheadle appears as the AI, Cedric Joe plays Dom, and the voice cast includes Jeff Bergman, Gabriel Iglesias and Zendaya. The tenth feature Lee directed, it followed Girls Trip and Night School. Made for a reported 150 million dollars, it returned roughly 164 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 4.5 out of 10 from about 86,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.6 from around 4,300. A critics' rating of 4.4 from 228 reviews sits close to the IMDb figure and well below the TMDB score.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, Terence Nance was hired as the director of the film, but he resigned due to creative differences with studio management, and Malcolm D. Lee took his place.
- According to Gabriel Iglesias (who voiced Speedy Gonzales), at the very first meeting with him, producers wondered if he shouldn't voice Speedy Gonzales with his own voice to somehow modernize the character, but then they still asked him to copy the timbre of Gonzales' voice and manner of speech.
- Cat Susie was initially re-invited to voice Lola, as she had in the first film in the franchise, and had even recorded her lines. However, during post-production, she was replaced by Zendaya for unknown reasons.
- Originally, the sequel was intended to feature Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters playing basketball against a new alien villain. However, Jordan refused to return to the franchise, and the project was simply cancelled.
- After the original idea for "Space Jam 2" was rejected, the idea arose to film a spy thriller titled "Spy Jam" starring Jackie Chan. However, he left the project, and it turned into the comedy film "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" (Joe Dante and Eric Goldberg, 2003).
- Some viewers were surprised to see King Kong, a character whose rights are owned by Universal Pictures, in the film from Warner Bros. However, the character itself became public domain several decades ago. The rights to the King Kong films remain in effect, but it turned out that Turner acquired the RKO film library before merging with Warner Bros. Entertainment, and the original 1933 "King Kong" film (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack) was among its holdings.
- Seeyar J Wright later recounted that, hoping to get the role of LeBron James' son, he lied about his ability to play basketball. He even had to learn how to dribble, but in the end he was cast – thanks to his innate athleticism and a coach who gave him a bit of training.
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