20 facts you might not know about Space Jam: A New Legacy

In 2003, Warner Bros. released Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Though it was directed by big Looney Tunes fan Joe Dante and had current internet darling Brendan Fraser as the lead, it proved a total flop. As such, Looney Tunes did not get a single feature film until Space Jam: A New Legacy came out in 2021.

After the success of Space Jam, the development of a sequel to star Jordan began. In the said sequel, Mel Brooks would have voiced the antagonist, an alien named Bezerk-O. However, it turned out a producer had lied about Jordan agreeing to be involved to keep production going. Once the ruse was found out, the project was shut down.

Without Jordan, some other ideas were bandied about. For example, Jeff Gordon starring in "Race Jam" and Tony Hawk starring in "Skate Jam." Also, a Tiger Woods movie that never got a “Jam” name. Oddly, they also considered a non-sports idea starring Jackie Chan called “Spy Jam.” None of them happened.

LeBron is basically the heir apparent to MJ, so it makes sense he starred in the film. However, it was slow going until the movie finally hit theaters. Warner Bros. first announced plans for a Space Jam sequel starring LeBron in 2014.

Maybe part of why the movie took so long to be completed is a lot of turnover. Justin Lin was the first director attached, but he dropped out. Kobe Bryant wanted to direct, but he didn’t want to appear. Then, Terence Nance was hired to direct. Meanwhile, the script has six credited screenwriters and four writers given “story by” credits.

LeBron James is real, and he has a real family, but they aren’t involved in the film at all. Every family member in the movie does not share their names with LeBron’s actual wife and children.

Modern movies love stunt-casting voice actors. In Space Jam: A New Legacy, that did not work out well for Kath Soucie. Soucie had originally voiced Lola Bunny in Space Jam and was originally announced as reprising the role. Then, Soucie was replaced by Zendaya, presumably based on the strength of her turn as Meechee.

Terence Nance? He didn’t last long. Nance began shooting the film on June 25, 2019. Then, on July 16 of the same year, it was announced he was leaving the project due to “creative differences.” At this point, Malcolm D. Lee stepped in to direct the film.

Hans Zimmer, a legend in the composing world, was initially hired as the composer for this movie. That was in January 2020. By April, it was announced that Kris Bowers would be the “co-composer.” Ultimately, by January 2021, Zimmer was gone, and Bowers was the sole composer.

When HBO Max started streaming new Looney Tunes episodes, one notable change was a lack of firearms. This pretty much robbed Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam of their entire characters. However, for Space Jam: A New Legacy, the duo were able to have guns once again.

Initially, everybody’s favorite HR violation of a skunk Pepe le Pew had a brief appearance. It was even filmed by Nance when he was the director. However, once Lee took over, his scene was cut.

In the first Space Jam, Granny’s role with the Tune Squad is as a cheerleader. However, her services were needed in a different capacity in the sequel. Granny is a member of the team in this movie.

We haven’t even mentioned Don Cheadle playing a character named Al G. Rhythm, and the less said about that, the better. That said, he serves as the coach of the Goon Squad. In doing so, he cribs from a couple of famous coaches. He dresses in a hoodie reminiscent of Bill Belichick and throws a chair in anger like Bobby Knight infamously did.

Space Jam: A New Legacy is both a basketball movie and a thinly veiled advertisement for the Warner Bros. back catalog. As such, we see dozens upon dozens of Warner Bros. characters in scenes, even if some are just in the background. This led to one bizarre choice for a family movie. You can see Alex and the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, a film featuring a vast array of depraved, disturbing violence.

While Michael B. Jordan is in the movie, there is no appearance from His Airness MJ. Lee has said he wanted to have a post-credits scene with the basketball-playing Jordan that riffed on The Last Dance. Alas, it didn’t happen.

Look, they weren’t hiding it. Cartoon Network aired a made-for-TV movie of their show Teen Titans Go! called Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam. The whole thing is designed to serve as an advertisement for the Space Jam sequel. However, as Teen Titans Go! is often a meta, winking show, they handled the job they were handed the best they could.

Space Jam: A New Legacy made back its budget, earning $162.8 million worldwide against $150 million. However, we have to remember that it was simultaneously released on HBO Max. The streaming analytics company Samba TV reported how many people watched it that first weekend. The top city? Cleveland.

Apparently, Matt Stone and Trey Parker weren’t fans of Space Jam: A New Legacy. They weren’t the only ones. The movie has a 25 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, in their Paramount+ specials, the South Park guys posit that the Space Jam sequel is the primary reason society collapses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joe Pytka was not pleased with the sequel to his movie. The man who directed the original Space Jam is on the record as despising A New Legacy. One of his biggest complaints? LeBron not being a “transcendent figure” like Jordan. He also called Bugs Bunny’s role in the sequel “heartbreaking.”

Lee apparently enjoyed directing A New Legacy enough to want to return to the world of Looney Tunes. He has said he’s interested in directing a sequel. However, he thinks that maybe basketball should be set aside. Lee wants to make a movie with Dwayne Johnson, the erstwhile The Rock, focused on wrestling.