Space Jam: A New Legacy sees LeBron James pay homage to Michael Jordan – and Dan Cheadle refuses to say who was the better player
- Exactly 25 years after Michael Jordan’s original box office slam dunk alongside Bugs Bunny and co, Space Jam has been reimagined for a new generation
- Harry Potter and Game of Thrones appear in the reboot, while Zendaya voices the return of Lola Bunny – but outdated Pepé Le Pew has been booted from the 2021 take
Twenty-five years after Michael Jordan commanded a slam dunk at the box office, taking the court with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang in 1996’s Space Jam, LeBron James enters the beloved film arena with his own take, Space Jam: A New Legacy – in theatres worldwide today.
A new generation’s basketball GOAT once again battles for his very existence against impossibly formidable Goon Squad opponents. The hybrid animated “New Legacy” follows many of the original’s major beats, from childhood openings – boyish Jordan dreaming of stardom on a North Carolina basketball court, young James learning early lessons in Columbus, Ohio – to an epic game.
“We made our own movie, paying homage to the past. We did copy that structure,” says director Malcolm D. Lee. “But we didn’t want to call it Space Jam 2, because it’s not truly a sequel. It’s a new version, a new legacy,”
How does James carve his own path? We asked the filmmakers.
One clear difference between films is the battle realm. Jordan was originally kidnapped by Bugs and the Tune Squad to win a high stakes basketball game against malevolent space aliens, the Monstars. New Legacy features James and his fictional youngest son Dom (Cedric Joe) pulled into the “server-verse” of Warner Bros. Studio’s computer system by egomaniacal digital villain AI-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle). Digitised LeBron transforms to various WB properties, riding a Harry Potter Quidditch broom and a Game of Thrones dragon.
“Computer Jam” doesn’t have that same ring.
“It’s inner space, cyberspace. We’re in some space. It’s still gonna be Space Jam,” says Lee.
