Cartoonish behavior in professional sports? Surely the stuff of fiction!
Warner Bros. just released the first trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy, hitting theaters and HBO Max on July 16th. The kid-friendly pic directed by Malcolm D. Lee stars LeBron James, Don Cheadle, and Sonequa Martin-Green, as well as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and the Granny character whose name is actually Emma Webster, according to the Looney Tunes wiki. It is the long-awaited follow-up to the 1996 Space Jam which starred Michael Jordan.
The update sends LeBron James, as himself, into a Tron-like land called The Serververse, in which everything he encounters just happens to be other Warner Bros. IPs. (Oh, we can only hope he runs into characters from Ready Player One, who are also racing around with The Iron Giant.) In order to save his son, he and the Looney Tunes gang must defeat a squad of baddies called The Goons on the court.
Ryan Coogler is the top billed producer, his wife is listed as an executive producer, and his younger brother is one of the four credited screenwriters. One can imagine the Coogler family accountant watching this victory and invoking the sacred words of Marv Albert: “Yes! And it counts!”
NBA fans and 90s nostalgists are enough to ensure this will end up more than a kiddie hit, but the film’s rollout has not been without controversy. Some purists cried foul upon discovery of Lola Bunny’s new look that toned down the tune va-va-va-voom. It was also revealed that the character Pepe Le Pew, heavy on scent but light on consent, had been cut.
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