Space Jam: A New Legacy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Space Jam: A New Legacy |
|
|---|---|
Release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Malcolm D. Lee |
| Produced by |
|
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Kris Bowers |
| Cinematography | Salvatore Totino |
| Editing by | Bob Ducsay |
| Studio |
|
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 12, 2021 (Los Angeles) July 16, 2021 (United States) |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150 million |
| Money made | $163.7 million |
Space Jam: A New Legacy (also known as Space Jam 2) is a 2021 American live-action/animated sports comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, Proximity Media, and The SpringHill Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was directed by Malcolm D. Lee from a screenplay by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon, and Celeste Ballard, and a story by Taylor, Rettenmaier, Coogler, and Nance. It serves as a standalone sequel to Space Jam (1996) and is the first theatrically released film to feature the Looney Tunes characters since Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). The film stars basketball player LeBron James as a fictional version of himself; Don Cheadle, Khris Davis, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Cedric Joe star in live-action roles, while Jeff Bergman, Eric Bauza, and Zendaya headline the Looney Tunes voice cast. The film follows James enlisting the Looney Tunes' aid to win a basketball game in a Warner Bros.–themed virtual multiverse against a rogue artificial intelligence's avatars after James's youngest son is abducted by the AI.
Discussions for a Space Jam successor began following its release. Director Joe Pytka was attached to return in that capacity and Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone signed on as the animation directors; however, the project was stalled due to lead actor Michael Jordan's refusal to return. Several possible spin-offs focusing on other athletes, including Jeff Gordon, Tiger Woods, and Tony Hawk, were discussed but never materialized. After several years in development, a LeBron James-led sequel was officially announced in 2014 with filming under Nance taking place from June to September 2019 around Los Angeles. Nance left the project in July 2019 and was replaced by Lee. Traditional animation was done by Company 3 Animation and Tonic DNA, while visual effects and computer animation were outsourced to Industrial Light & Magic.
Space Jam: A New Legacy premiered in Los Angeles on July 12, 2021, and was released nationwide in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 16, and through HBO Max for one month. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $163 million worldwide against a $150 million production budget, and received generally negative reviews from critics for its humor, runtime, and particularly for its extensive product placement of WarnerMedia properties. It won three of its four Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Actor for James.
Contents
Plot
In 1998, a young LeBron James attends a youth league basketball game. His friend Malik gives him a Game Boy, which LeBron plays with until the coach demands that he concentrate on the basketball. LeBron misses a potential buzzer beater and is reprimanded for not staying focused. Ashamed, he discards the Game Boy.
In the present day, LeBron encourages his sons, Darius and Dominic, to pursue basketball careers. While his attempts with Darius are successful, Dominic ("Dom") aspires to become a video game developer. LeBron, Malik, and Dom are later invited to Warner Bros. Studios to discuss a film deal. LeBron rejects the idea while Dom is interested in the studio's software, particularly its AI, Al-G Rhythm. Dom and LeBron argue, with the latter revealing resentment towards his father's advice. Having become self-aware and desiring more recognition in the world, Al-G lures LeBron and Dom to the server room and traps them in the digital world "Warner Bros. Serververse".
Al-G takes Dom prisoner and orders LeBron to form a basketball team to compete against his own, only earning his freedom if he wins, before sending him to Tune World. LeBron finds Tune World abandoned except for Bugs Bunny, who explains that Al-G persuaded the other Looney Tunes to leave their world and explore the Serververse. Using Marvin's spacecraft, the two travel to various worlds to locate and recruit the other Looney Tunes to form the Tune Squad. Meanwhile, Al-G manipulates Dom into recreating his basketball-based video game, Dom Ball, inside the Serververse. The two create a highly powerful team which Al-G intends to use against LeBron.
In Tune World, despite Bugs's protests, LeBron insists on teaching the Tune Squad the fundamentals of basketball. They encounter Al-G's team, the Goon Squad, composed of avatars of real basketball players and led by Dom. Al-G transforms Tune World into CGI, live streams the game and abducts real-world people, including LeBron's family, into the Serververse. Al-G threatens to delete the Looney Tunes and imprison the spectators permanently if the Goon Squad wins.
The Goon Squad use superpowers to score extreme "style points", ending the first half with a 1039–37 lead. LeBron realizes his mistake and allows the Looney Tunes to use their cartoon physics during the second half. They rally and take the lead. During a time-out, LeBron apologizes to Dom for not listening to his ideas. Dom forgives LeBron and joins the Tune Squad.
Al-G takes control of the game and demonstrates the new ability to undo Tune scoring, effectively dooming any further efforts. With ten seconds left in the game, the Tune Squad is down by 1 and calls time-out. LeBron recalls a bug in Dom Ball's code, where a character is deleted and the game crashes after a specific move is performed. He volunteers to perform the move, uncertainly declaring that he can't be deleted due to being a real person. However, Bugs intercepts a pass and does the move himself, sacrificing his life. Bugs, Al-G and the Goon Squad are all deleted as LeBron scores the winning point with Dom's help. The Looney Tunes and the Serververse are restored and LeBron, his family and the other real-world spectators are returned to their world.
One week later, LeBron, respecting Dom's wishes, allows him to attend the E3 Game Design Camp. He subsequently encounters Bugs, who reveals that his cartoon physics allowed him to regenerate and that his friends have also entered the real world. LeBron, having accepted the Looney Tunes as his extended family, allows them to live with him temporarily.
Cast
Live-action cast
- LeBron James as himself; James also voices his animated counterpart.
- Stephen Kankole as 13-year-old LeBron James
- Don Cheadle as Al-G Rhythm, a self-aware and deceitful AI who presides over the Warner Bros. Serververse. Cheadle also voices Al-G Rhythm's computerized form. Cheadle was a fan of Michael Jordan, the original film and the Looney Tunes cartoons, so he accepted the role once it was pitched to him.
- Cedric Joe as Dominic "Dom" James, LeBron's younger son and an aspiring video game developer.
- Sonequa Martin-Green as Kamiyah James, LeBron's wife.
- Khris Davis as Malik, LeBron's childhood friend and business associate
- Jalyn Hall as 13-year-old Malik
- Ceyair Wright as Darius James, LeBron's elder son.
- Harper Leigh Alexander as Xosha James, LeBron's daughter.
- Ernie Johnson as himself, working as a commentator during the game between the Tune Squad and the Goon Squad.
- Lil Rel Howery as himself, working with Johnson in commentating on the game.
Xosha Roquemore appears as Shanice James, LeBron's mother, Darius, Dom and Xosha's grandmother, and a fictionalized version of Gloria Marie James; Wood Harris appears as Coach C, LeBron's childhood coach; Sarah Silverman and Steven Yeun portray Warner Bros. executives; and Slink Johnson appears as a security guard. Basketball players Sue Bird, Draymond Green and A'ja Wilson cameo as themselves in a flashback in which Dom met them at a gathering attended by LeBron.
While Michael Jordan does not appear in the film, he is briefly seen on the Space Jam poster shown in Al-G Rhythm's Warner 3000 pitch. Michael B. Jordan cameos as himself, appearing as a visual gag where he is mistaken for Michael Jordan; this was teased by Cheadle prior to the film's release, who stated, "Michael Jordan is in the movie, but not in the way that you would expect it." Michael B. Jordan was invited to appear in the film when he visited the set and hung out with James. Lee was interested in having Michael Jordan appear in a post-credits scene in a reference to The Last Dance; however, the idea never materialized. Bill Murray, who appeared in the original film, makes a photographic cameo playing golf alongside Bugs Bunny in the credits. Travis Scott, Ronda Rousey, and Naomi Osaka also appear in the end credits.
Voice cast
- Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Yogi Bear, and Fred Flintstone
- Eric Bauza as Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, and Marvin the Martian
- Zendaya as Lola Bunny; Zendaya accepted Coogler's offer to star in the film because of her interest in working with Coogler and being a fan of the original film, in addition to her family's history with basketball.
- Bob Bergen as Tweety; Bergen is the only cast member from the first film to reprise his role.
- Candi Milo as Granny
- Gabriel Iglesias as Speedy Gonzales; Iglesias, a longtime fan of the character, expressed excitement at being cast as Speedy. When the crew asked him if he wanted to change Speedy's voice from the traditional delivery, Iglesias decided against it, saying, "When people think of Speedy Gonzales, I don't want them to think of me, I want them to think of Speedy Gonzales."
- Fred Tatasciore as Taz
- Jim Cummings provided additional uncredited vocal effects for Taz.
- Paul Julian as the Road Runner (archive recordings, uncredited)
- Anthony Davis as The Brow, a blue member of the Goon Squad and avatar of Davis with prehensile bald eagle-like wings instead of arms. The character is named after one of Davis's nicknames.
- Damian Lillard as Chronos, a gold robotic Goon Squad member and avatar of Lillard who can manipulate time. The character is inspired by Lillard's nickname "Dame Time".
- Klay Thompson as Wet-Fire, an elemental member of the Goon Squad and avatar of Thompson who possesses aquakinetic and pyrokinetic abilities in his two respective forms similar to Hydro-Man and Human Torch while also being able to combine those abilities like when he gave a fiery thumbs up in his water form. The character is inspired in part by the "Splash Brothers" nickname given to the duo of Thompson and Stephen Curry. The water powers represent his ability to shoot threes and the fire represents him going all out when he plays.
- Nneka Ogwumike as Arachnneka, a red and black member of the Goon Squad and avatar of Ogwumike with a spider-like appearance and abilities.
- Diana Taurasi as White Mamba, a Nāga-like member of the Goon Squad and avatar of Taurasi. The character is inspired by Taurasi's eponymous nickname.
- Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, a DC Comics superhero and Amazon who mentors Lola and oversees the latter's trial. Dawson reprises her role from the DC Animated Movie Universe.
- Justin Roiland as Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, who experiment on Taz before returning him to Bugs.
- Eric Bauza, Kimberly Brooks, Nik Shriner, and Shelby Young as Additional Voices
In addition to voicing and providing motion capture for the Goon Squad, Davis, Lillard, Thompson, Ogwumike, and Taurasi appear as themselves in live-action cameos when Dom meets them at a gathering attended by LeBron.
Animation and visual effects
Both visual effects and computer animation for the Looney Tunes characters were provided by Lucasfilm's visual effects division, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). This is the second collaboration with the Looney Tunes in using ILM for visual effects since Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). While the 2D animation was provided by Company 3 Animation, and Tonic DNA, who previously worked with Warner Brothers on Looney Tunes Cartoons, additional CGI effects were also provided by Luma and Cinesite, who previously provided them in the first Space Jam.
In January 2020, veteran Walt Disney Animation Studios animators Mark Henn, Tony Bancroft, and the latter's brother Tom were hired by Warner Animation Group to work on the film. In March 2020, James announced that work on the film's animation had commenced, while also revealing that the production had largely been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic as most of the remaining work involved animation. That same month, Brandt was hired back on to the project as animation director while Cervone was also hired back on to work in the film's animation department. Director Malcolm D. Lee also learned a lot of experience working on animation from Brandt, like harkening the Looney Tunes' designs back to the ones he remembered, and their animated expressions.
In July 2020, Dan Haskett, who has worked on the Looney Tunes franchise since 1979, was hired to work in the animation department as well. Matt Williames, who had not worked with Warner Bros. since Looney Tunes: Back in Action, started doing animation for the film in August of the same year. In May 2020, Ole Loken, who worked extensively on animation hit Klaus, announced that he would serve as an animator on the film. The film includes both traditional and CG animation, making it the first film from Warner Animation Group to incorporate the former, which was for the most part tradigitally created with Toon Boom Animation's Harmony software.
Music
In January 2020, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for the film. By April of the same year, Kris Bowers was announced to be working with Zimmer as co-composers. However, in January 2021, it was officially confirmed that Bowers would receive solo credit. The soundtrack was released on July 9, 2021, and labeled by Republic Records and WaterTower Music featuring two lead singles: Lil Baby and Kirk Franklin's "We Win", and "Just for Me", by Saint Jhn featuring SZA. Other artists were also featured on the soundtrack, including John Legend, Lil Wayne, Saweetie, Jonas Brothers, 24kGoldn, Lil Uzi Vert, Chance the Rapper, Joyner Lucas, Big Freedia, G-Eazy, and Kash Doll. 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready for This", one of the songs from the first film, is briefly heard in one scene with Al-G and Dom. "Sirius", an instrumental song by Alan Parsons Project that serves as the entrance anthem for the Chicago Bulls, is heard briefly when Sylvester brings Michael B. Jordan to the Tune Squad.
Release
Theatrical and streaming
Space Jam: A New Legacy was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on July 16, 2021. It was also simultaneously released on HBO Max, available for subscribers of the ad-free plan to view at no extra cost for one month. The film premiered in Los Angeles on July 12, 2021. In September 2020, SpringHill Company signed a four-year contract with Universal Pictures, making this their fourth and final independent production.
Samba TV reported that 2.1 million U.S. households streamed the film in its opening weekend, one of the best totals for its AB Warner Bros./HBO Max day-in-date release, with Cleveland being the most-watching city. The film was watched in over 4.2 million U.S. households by the end of its first 30 days.
Home media
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Studio Distribution Services released Space Jam: A New Legacy on digital on September 3, 2021, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 5.
Future
Lee has expressed interest in making a third Space Jam film with Dwayne Johnson as the lead and focusing on wrestling instead of basketball.
See also
- List of basketball films
See also
In Spanish: Space Jam: A New Legacy para niños
