Today, a first look at Space Jame 2 was released. And it became apparent that LeBron James is going to have a lot of company, aside from the Looney Tunes, in A New Legacy. The sequel to Michael Jordan’s original basketball flick is set to arrive this summer. Though it will be a remarkably different movie, as James is going to get sucked into the Warner Bros.’ “server-verse.” During his trip in the digital space, he is going to encounter many other characters from the studio’s history, including Batman and King Kong, among others.
In a new piece detailing Space Jam 2, which also included some first-look photos, it is revealing that the movie will feature “Batman and King Kong courtside.” This suggests that many famous faces will be occupying the seats during the basketball game between the Toon Squad and the new villains, the Goon Squad. Mad Max and Casablanca were also mentioned in the piece, as were The Matrix and Wonder Woman. It seems, much like the studio has done with Ready Player One and The LEGO Movie in the past, they are going to load this movie down with as much IP as they can cram into it.
It had been rumored for some time that other characters were going to appear in the movie. Names such as Pennywise from IT and The Mask, as made famous by Jim Carrey, have been thrown around. While those particular characters have yet to be confirmed, we can expect to see quite a few famous faces along the way.
Space Jam: A New Legacy centers on LeBron James and his young son Dom who are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I. LeBron is then tasked with getting them home safely by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole Looney Tunes gang to a win in a basketball game against the A.I.’s digitized champions on the court, which includes a roster of professional basketball stars.
The cast also includes Don Cheadle (Avengers: Endgame, Hotel Rwanda) as the evil A.I. Khris Davis (Judas and the Black Messiah, Atlanta), Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead, Star Trek: Discovery), Jeff Bergman (Looney Tunes Cartoons), Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Cartoons) and newcomer Cedric Joe round out the cast. Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip, Night School) is in the director’s chair. The screenplay was written by Juel Taylor (Creed II), Tony Rettenmaier (Cabarete), Keenan Coogler (Rachel from New York) and Terence Nance (Random Acts of Flyness)
Ryan Coogler, LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Duncan Henderson are on board as producers, with Sev Ohanian, Jamal Henderson, Allison Abbate, Jesse Ehrman, Spencer Beighley, Justin Lin, Terence Nance and Ivan Reitman on board as executive producers. Nance had originally been tapped as the director but departed the project shortly after filming got underway. Like the rest of Warner Bros.’ 2021 movies, Space Jam: A New Legacy will arrive both in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day in the U.S. The movie is currently set for release on July 16. This news comes to us via Entertainment Weekly.