By When our own Max Roahrig jokingly mentioned his idea for a sequel to 1996’s Space Jam to Kevin Durant, I would like to believe that set a very coincidental set of actions in motion. Oddly enough, the Warner Bros representative present stated that they “own[ed] the rights to [the Space Jam] characters and could easily go back to the well.”
Through the magic of the internet, weird universal shenanigans, and in a response to a tweet from a fan, LeBron James tweeted:
I love that movie. Wish I could do Space Jam 2!
So all of the pieces are in place. Warner Bros. still owns the rights, we have an arguably famous athlete interested in the idea, so all we would need is a writer (sorry, Max!).
Unfortunately as much as I want a Space Jam sequel myself, our own Geoff Henao treated me to some very cold realism when he argued that “the backlash would be enormous if they ever attempted to do a Space Jam 2 with any current NBA player because they simply wouldn’t be at the same level as Michael Jordan. The closest player would be LBJ, but that would be WAY too notorious; he’s still villified and hated. It’d be a terrible move.”
Damn you, Geoffrey. I was so happy.
[via The Film Stage]