LeBron James is making a bigger case every day for why he should swipe the GOAT (greatest of all time) title from Michael Jordan, but the one thing he didn’t have on MJ was a “Space Jam” movie with Bugs Bunny. Until now.
The first trailer for James’ “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is here, and it shows the L.A. Lakers champ teaming up with Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Taz and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang for a new basketball blockbuster.
Whether you care about the original “Space Jam” from 1996 might determine whether you’re a Gen-Xer or a millennial. That’s because many ’90s kids consider the original a cult classic, complete with cameos from ’90s NBA stars like Charles Barkley and Muggsy Bogues, supporting roles from Bill Murray and Wayne Knight and a killer soundtrack. The movie made $230.4 million worldwide, but a sequel never materialized (and if you ask Barkley, there doesn’t need to be another).
Now, 25 years later, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” aims to reinvent the franchise for a new audience while appealing to nostalgic older crowds. The original film found Jordan roped into the world of the Looney Tunes as he faced off against the alien MonStars, who had absorbed the skills of other basketball greats, in an attempt to save Bugs and his cartoon pals from eternal slavery as part of an intergalactic traveling circus (yes, really).
The new “Space Jam” has a similarly off-the-wall premise, in which James plays a heightened version of himself who has to rescue his son after he’s pulled into a virtual server controlled by an A.I. villain named Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle). James then recruits the Looney Tunes to play together as the Tune Squad and take down the Goon Squad in an epic basketball game. Along the way, James gets stuck inside the Warner 3000 Entertainment “Server-Verse,” which shows the film poking fun at other WarnerMedia-owned classics.
Beyond LeBron, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” boasts a powerful roster — “Girls Trip” director Malcolm D. Lee is directing the film, and “Black Panther’s” Ryan Coogler is a producer. And you may find a few other current NBA and WNBA stars lurking in the film as well.
Warner Bros. will release “Space Jam: A New Legacy” this summer both in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16.
Watch the first trailer above.