The Space Jam: A New Legacy trailer just had to drop on my day off didn’t it? I couldn’t resist writing about it because good lord it looks absolutely insane and I am so here for it. Let’s take a look at some of the scenes from this madness of a movie trailer.
All images courtesy of Warner Brothers Entertainment.
Lebron James
We are first introduced to Lebron James- the famous basketball player who is taking over from Michael Jordan-and his son Dom, who doesn’t seem keen on taking on his father’s basketball career. It isn’t shown in the trailer, but the synopsis of the film reveals the Dom has dreams of becoming a video game developer rather than following in his father’s sporting career. This is just speculation but it looks like Lebron and Dom end up at some kind of headquarters for Warner Brothers as you can see a bronze statue of Marvin the Martian and what looks to be Dot from the Animaniacs in the background as Lebron chats with his son. The massive reflection of the Warner Brothers logo is also a bit of a giveaway.
Into the Matrix
After an argument, Dom and Lebron get off of the elevator on the wrong floor and end up in a weird looking server room with a rather large, glowing ball thing. I believe that is the technical terminology for it, although Lebron refers to it as “what in the Matrix hell”. Surprisingly accurate. Dom gets pulled into this glowing entity, as does Lebron not long after.
Warner Brothers/HBO Worlds
This is when things start to get a little bit Ready Player One (which was also a Warner Brothers movie by the way). Lebron is sucked into a weird, vortex style galaxy filled with planets based on properties from Warner Brothers and HBO. Game of Thrones is the most eye-catching one we can see, followed by The Wizard of Oz -with a really cool contrast between the bright, technicolour Oz and the black and white Kansas complete with that iconic hurricane which Lebron falls through. I tried my best to see what the other planet in the shot a moment afterwards is but I couldn’t get a good enough look at it. Later on the trailer, we can also see planets for Batman, Superman and what I think might be a Lord of the Rings planet due to the fiery looking flames and lava that look suspiciously like Mordor. This is a super cool premise, if not a little “borrowed” from Ready Player One. Like I said, that movie is also a Warner Brothers property to I guess it’s not too big of a deal.
Al-G Rhythm
Don Cheadle’s character- the hilariously ridiculously named Al-G Rhythm- is shown to have kidnapped Dom for…reasons? He challenges Lebron to a basketball game within this “Serververse”, also for…reasons?? I’m guessing it’ll be a little clearer in the actual film but seeing as this is a movie with Bugs Bunny and Lebron James playing basketball, I don’t really think these are important factors. Al-G Rhythm seems to have an adorable robot friend too called Pete, because cute robots are always welcome. When Al-G Rhythm instructs Pete to send Lebron to the “rejects”, or the Looney Tune World, we also get a glimpse of other potential planets thanks to the sign on the lever. There are actual planets included such as Saturn and Mars but we also see Themisycra from Wonder Woman, Hogwarts from Harry Potter and Orbit City from The Jetsons. We do get a cameo from The Jetsons later on in the trailer and it has also been confirmed that we will see Themiscyra as Lola Bunny is hanging out with the Amazons there. Could there be a potential Harry Potter related cameo? I hope so. If there’s one thing we get from this trailer, its plenty of cameos and a huge potential for even more. As long as they are as silly and fun as the rest of the trailer, I am all for it.
The Tune World
Lebron gets catapulted into the Looney Tune World as Michael Jordan did back in 1996 (though I am a little disappointed that it isn’t via an underground portal as with the first film). Rather than retaining his human form like Michael Jordan did in the Tune World in the first movie, Lebron finds himself transformed into a 2-D cartoon character, which is a cool concept. I like this idea of changing forms to adapt to the world that you’re in. It makes more sense than a real human in the cartoon world in the way that they did in the original film. Then again, none of this makes even a semblance of sense anyway. Still, keeping the Looney Tunes in their traditional 2-D style whilst in their world is a great choice, paying homage to traditional animation styles and keeping the characters true to the medium that made them iconic across the world.
We also see the latest character designs for the Tune Squad as Lebron makes a plan amongst the Looney Tunes to save his son. I recently talked about how the Internet was up in arms about the redesign of Lola Bunny– whose sexiness in the 1996 film led to her becoming an awkward crush for many-but I think her new design fits in perfectly with the chosen animation style whilst still being in line with her character.
Welcome to the Jam
I would have been so bummed out if this song was omitted from any of the marketing for this movie but we all knew damn well that there was no way that was going to happen. A remix of Quad City DJ’s iconic “Space Jam” theme from the first film (which has also made appearances in memes aplenty since then) plays as Lebron explains that he needs an elite team to help him defeat Al-G Rhythm and get his son back. He writes down “Superman”, “King Kong”, “Gandalf” and “The Iron Giant” as potential squad mates before he starts to look through the list of Looney Tunes. Bugs Bunny seems to have stolen Marvin the Martian’s floating chair and helmet so I hope he is still a part of the film. He was a great referee in the first film. Kind of. Yosemite Sam also has plenty of guns at his disposal. I’m a bit surprised that’s still allowed in this day and age. Considering that Pepe Le Pew got the boot for his less than gentlemanly behaviour, I figured Yosemite Sam might have gotten his weaponry toned down too.
What is This, A Crossover Episode?
We see the basketball court where the game will take place surrounded by Warner Brothers characters (more on that in a bit) as Lebron transforms back into his human-self whilst the Looney Tunes transform from 2-D, hand drawn characters to 3-D CGI characters. I think this is a really cool idea too, switching g animation styles for when the characters change worlds. There is then an absolute ton of characters from Warner Brothers and HBO properties that make an appearance. The Iron Giant from the film of the same name , Drogon the dragon from Game of Thrones, a wealth of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters like the Flintsones, the Jetsons, the Mystery Machine and Scooby Doo squad ,Yogi Bear and Boo Boo and tons more, King Kong and just so many more that I really couldn’t keep track of them all. There is a follower’s count on the scoreboard above the basketball court too so I’m guessing social media will play some kind of role.
The Goon Squad
Al G-Rhythm announces his line-up of players: The Goon Squad. I can’t tell whether they are meant to be actual characters from previous properties but they all seem to have their own powers, such as fire, water, a spider-lady, a bird person, a snake girl and a robot dude. The Monstars were better but whatever.
What is Even Happening?
Lebron’s wife tells him the importance of winning the game and getting their son back as we see various crazy happenings. LeBron and Lola Bunny recreate the well-known meme of Dwayne Wade and Lebron from a 2010 basketball game; we see characters such as The Night King from Game of Thrones, Lion-O and Cheetara from Thundercats, the War-Boys from Mad Max: Fury Road, Jim Carrey’s green faced character from The Mask, Robin from Batman, Dino from The Flintstones and even The Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. I can’t believe that characters from A Clockwork Orange are going to be in a Space Jam movie. How is this real life right now?
It would seem that the characters from all of the different Warner Brothers/ HBO worlds come together to watch this epic basketball match, so who knows who else could make an appearance? This looks to literally be the the mashup of the century, which is kind of unexpected but not entirely unwelcome.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Honestly, the child inside me is mega pumped for this movie. I think it looks silly, bizarre and insane but it also looks like a lot of fun. The potential for cameos is rife too considering all of the Warner Brothers and HBO properties that will be involved. I really hope that if there are a lot of cameos, we at least get one from Michael Jordan or Bill Murray from the first movie. Space Jam: A New Legacy may not be a cinematic masterpiece but it really doesn’t need to be. If it can recapture that same energy and joy from the first film and bring that same sense of wonderment to kids now that the original did to us 90’s babies back in the day, then it will certainly be a huge success and definitely worthy of a watch.
Space Jam: A New Legacy is set for release on July 16th in cinemas and for a month on HBO Max after the theatrical release.
