Directed by Malcolm D. With Sonequa Martin-Green, Don Cheadle, Martin Klebba, J. NBA superstar LeBron James teams up with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes for this long-awaited sequel.
Space Jam: A New Legacy isn't expected to be released until this summer -- July 16, to be exact -- but fans don't have to wait any longer for their first look at footage from the much anticipated Space Jam followup starring Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. On Saturday, HBO Max shared a new teaser and in it was some brief, but exciting first footage of the upcoming live-action/animation hybrid film.
In the teaser -- which you can check out for yourself below -- there's just the briefest bit of footage at around the seven-second mark featuring James as well as what appears to be Bugs Bunny both looking both stunned and slightly horrified as another character is lifted by a bright light or tractor beam into what appears to be an overhead scoreboard that is clearly something more.
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan and cartoon favorite Bugs Bunny team up with other basketball greats and Looney Tunes characters in this combination animated/live-action feature. Jordan must help the Looney Tunes gang with a basketball game against a group of outer space creatures whose plan, if they win, is to kidnap the Looney Tunes and take them to a failing intergalactic amusement park. Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka and starring basketball player Michael Jordan. Produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation as its first (and so far, only financially successful) film, the film presents a fictionalized account of what happened between Jordan's initial retirement from the NBA in 1993 and his 1995 comeback, in which he is. Check out our space jam invitation selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our invitations & announcements shops.
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This year, the biggest Warner Bros. premieres are coming to theaters and streaming on HBO Max the exact same day. What movie are you most excited for? 🍿 https://t.co/6Ny7n8JUGkpic.twitter.com/UEMmDlMIy6
— HBO Max (@hbomax) January 16, 2021
Just watching this brief footage, it would be easy to assume that we're dealing with the Monstars -- the 'villains' of the first Space Jam film -- but that may not be the case. James recently explained in an episode of Road Trippin' that Space Jam: A New Legacy isn't a sequel, so while there will be a competition against some 'out of this world' figures, it might not exactly be the Monstars.
'It's not a sequel,' James clarified. 'It's called Space Jam: A New Legacy, it's not called Space Jam 2. There will be a basketball game, I'll say that. And there will be some people that are a little out of this world that we're competing against.'
James also explained that the film will largely center around a father/son relationship, after more directly noting that the 'out of this world' opponents will not in fact be called the Monstars.
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'You can call them that. They have a different name. I won't give the name,' James said. 'But it's more of a family movie. It's a parenting movie between me and my son, and me trying to demand my son to do something because I was taught that way growing up. Demand my son to play basketball. 'This is what you're gonna do, this is how you're gonna do it.' And me as a parent not listening to my son and not believing in what my son is actually great at. It's a tackling between me being a parent and supporting my son, and my son basically turning off at some point and me trying to regain that trust throughout the movie. Along with the great Bugs Bunny, and Lola, and Taz, and Tweety. All of them.'
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Space Jam
As part of the Warner Bros. 2021 release strategy, Space Jam: A New Legacy will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021.