LeBron James spilled so much ‘Space Jam 2’ tea on Instagram

Nothing will give a person who grew up in the 90s and the early 00s quite a kick like the mention of the 1996’s Space Jam. Looking back on it, it’s a bizarre movie. Using the commercials that basketball superstar Michael Jordan did with the Looney Tunes, it turned into a wild feature-length movie about finding yourself after tragedy, weird aliens, friendship, and cartoon physics. 

Also, Bill Murray showed up to play basketball. Why? It’s Bill Murray, that’s why. Rumors of a sequel swirled around for years. Then there was confirmation. Basketball superstar LeBron James stepped up to the plate for the sequel. On Instagram on Thursday, April 30, James dished some tea about the upcoming film.

Here’s what we learned. 

Space Jam 2 has a title

James took to his Instagram yesterday with a Boomerang of him wearing a hat with the title of the Space Jam sequel on it. The film will be called Space Jam: A New Legacy, which sounds pretty epic for a title. Now let’s hope that the film lives up to its epic name.

Space Jam: A New Legacy is confirmed for release in 2021

With the coronavirus pandemic shutting down every production under the sun, studios are doing a frantic reshuffling of their schedules. Before the pandemic hit, Space Jam: A New Legacy had a July 16, 2021 release date.

James, however, only gave the year 2021 in his Instagram post. It could be the film will be pushed back or will maintain its release date. As filming took place before the production freeze was put in place (it started in 2019), we can assume that Space Jam: A New Legacy will hold onto its July 2021 release date. 

Any casting announcements?

LeBron James and Looney Tunes are the only members of the cast to be announced for the project. Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery) and Ceyair J. Wright are set to play James’ wife, Savannah, and son, Bronny, respectively. 

As for the Looney Tunes, they will presumably be voiced by the current roster of voice actors portraying them. Many of these characters have a distinct voice, so, you know, it would be hard to swap them out with celebrity voice actors.

In 1996, Jordan was joined by current NBA stars Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Shawn Bradley, and Muggsy Bogues, who had their basketball talent stolen by the Monstar team. In the sequel, it’s rumored that NBA players Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, and Kyle Kuzma will appear.

Unlike the first movie, Space Jam: A New Legacy will also have members of the WNBA as well. Diana Taurasi, Nneka Ogwumike, and Chiney Ogwumike are rumored to be in the film as well.  

Given that a lot of current NBA players grew up in a Space Jam world, we can imagine that a lot of them would love to make an acting debut in Space Jam: A New Legacy. 

Who is directing Space Jam: A New Legacy?

Malcolm D. Lee, who directed Girls Trip and Night School, will direct the sequel. Originally, Terror Nance (Random Acts of Flyness) was set to direct the film, but fell out with producers over the creative direction of the film and exited the project.

James is producing the film with Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), who co-wrote the script with Sev Ohanian.