How we finally got the ‘Space Jam’ sequel we deserve, 25 years later

If you had told the creators of the OG “Space Jam” — the first movie to be shot in a virtual studio — that their $80 million film that grossed $250.2 million in 1996 would still be influencing the pop culture landscape in 2021, I doubt they would have believed you.

It seems like just yesterday NBA fans and movie buffs were diligently sleuthing around the internet and dissecting James’ social media activity for any signs that “The Chosen One” would reprise or reboot the 1996 cinematic masterpiece.

Deadline reported that broadcasting veteran Dick Ebersol’s sons, Charlie and Willie Ebersol, had been hired by Warner Bros.

According to Deadline, Charlie had a preexisting relationship with the NFL thanks to his “NFL Characters Unite” series on USA Network, and he reportedly was eager to do the same with the NBA by producing the film.

If 2014 had generated rumblings, 2015 created a roar.

A time when Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Celine Dion ruled the Billboard charts and “Space Jam” was the 10th-highest grossing film of the year.

In 1997, high off the success of the film and with director Joe Pytka and animators set to return, Warner Bros.

“I felt the whole point was — like a lot of sequels — just to cash in on the success of the original,” Bob Camp, a Warner Bros.

Refusing to be thwarted, the studio began pursuing other options.

At one point a long time back, I was called in to look at a script for ‘Space Jam 2’ and Tiger Woods was written into that.

On Sept.

Some people view “Space Jam” as a children’s movie, others view it as another way to qualify the GOAT debate.

While their impassioned reasoning that the five-time NBA champion’s pedigree surpassed that of LeBron’s and that Kobe shared far more similarities to Michael Jordan than King James checked out, they were taking for granted that Kobe actually wanted to star in the film.

Against? Yep, in this iteration of the film, rather than the Monstars as the primary basketball antagonists , LeBron & Co.

Namely, how long he had to film and why he had to shave his facial hair.

“You all know I’ve always had a babyface, so this season I grew a beard out, it took me like six months to grow it.

King James began by reflecting on what the opportunity to be in the sequel meant to him, saying, “I’m gonna be honest completely with you guys — when I found out about the project, I was like it’s ‘Space Jam!’ It’s a movie that I grew up watching.

And, the fact that I’m who I am as an African American adult now with three kids of my own, and I made it out of the situations that I was in.

Bron’s list of potential teammates included Gandolf, King Kong and Superman.

It wouldn’t be unfair to assert that the new soundtrack has a greater legacy to live up to than the new film.

…Read the full story