After years of development, including multiple directors being attached, and over 20 years after the original film, “Space Jam 2” is officially happening. Like for real, this time. And LeBron James is excited to announce who he has attached to the upcoming Looney Tunes/basketball crossover film.
In a new interview with THR, James announced that previously-rumored director Terence Nance, who is best known for his film “The Oversimplification of Her Beauty” and the recent HBO series “Random Acts of Flyness,” will helm the film. In addition to that, “Black Panther” and “Creed” writer-director Ryan Coogler is attached as a producer on the film.
For those not familiar with the 1996 film “Space Jam,” it featured the greatest basketball player of the era, Michael Jordan, facing off against a wide variety of classic Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny as they play hoops in space. Oh yeah, and it also starred Bill Murray, but we’re going to go out on a limb and say he won’t be rejoining the franchise.
Speaking about Coogler’s addition to the project, James told THR that he “loved [Coogler’s] vision” as director of “Black Panther.” He continued, “So for Ryan to be able to bring that to kids, it’s amazing.”
“The ‘Space Jam’ collaboration is so much more than just me and the Looney Tunes getting together and doing this movie. It’s so much bigger. I’d just love for kids to understand how empowered they can feel and how empowered they can be if they don’t just give up on their dreams. And I think Ryan did that for a lot of people,” James further explained.
As for when production can get underway and a release date can be set, it doesn’t appear that Bugs Bunny’s schedule is impeding the filming. Instead, LeBron James has to finish his day job (the upcoming NBA season) before production can begin. And depending on how well his team does, filming will probably begin in the second half of 2019.
The NBA player took to Instagram to further solidify the news:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn6y1Z-gf-6/