‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Director Says LeBron-Starring Film Is Better Than Original

Image via Getty/Harry How

Space Jam: A New Legacy director Malcolm D. Lee thinks the new installment will eclipse the 1996 original.

It’s “a better movie than Space Jam,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “LeBron [James has] got that going for him.” Elsewhere in the interview he promised, “If you say theatrical movie, Space Jam is it.”

The magazine notes that “everyone involved is quick to stress that this is no sequel, that New Legacy will stand on its own.” Led by LeBron, the film shows the Lakers player portraying a “heightened version” of himself, where he has a difficult time identifying with his son Dom (Cedric Joe). Rather than basketball, Dom is much more skilled in tech and gains the attention of a CGI humanoid named Al G Rhythm (Don Cheadle). When LeBron and Dom ultimately get pulled into the Warner 3000 entertainment “server-verse,” Rhythm kidnaps Dom as a way to steal some of LeBron’s followers (in real life he’s got over 80 million on Instagram on 49M on Twitter).

Just like in the first Space Jam, a basketball game resolves the situation, with LeBron taking down “the Goon Squad” by selecting teammates from both Looney Tunes lore—including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Tweety—and Warner’s most famous films, “It was a tricky thing just in terms of what you may want, like, ‘Oh my God, look, there’s Mad Max, and there’s Casablanca!’” Lee said. EW notes he also name-dropped The Matrix and Wonder Woman “as part of the WB look back, though [neither] title is confirmed yet.”

Producer Ryan Coogler explained, “The general idea was the examination of Black fatherhood and how fatherhood could be unique to LeBron James specifically.”

LeBron, who’s a father of three, added, “There are parents who want to push their kids to do certain things because this is what they do, but sometimes you have to look into a kid and be able to have an open mind and ear to help them become the thing they’ve dreamed of.”

Like Michael Jordan’s Space Jam, Warner Bros. built LeBron a basketball court where he could work out and play pickup games with other NBA and WNBA players. Many even reached out to LeBron about being in New Legacy, and now Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, and Diana Taurasi are reportedly co-starring.

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“The phone would ring, the texts would come in, and then on social media a lot of people were tweeting at me saying, ’Hey, I’m available for Space Jam if you need me,” James said, laughing. “People want to be a part of it, because it’s timeless.”

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