Space Jam: A New Legacy — or as I will be referring to it for the rest of this blog Space Jam 2 — is coming out later this year. Thanks to a new story from Entertainment Weekly we now know what the movie is actually about and folks, it’s some wild shit involving VR, Casablanca, Don Cheadle playing a CGI character named AI G Rhythm, and something called the “Server-verse.”
These new details come courtesy of Entertainment Weekly in a story about how Space Jam 2 came about. It goes into the production of the new Space Jam, the cast and crew behind the flick — LeBron James is ready for his close-up — and the film’s apparent storyline. Let’s focus on that last bit. Quoth EW:
“Playing a heightened version of himself, James struggles to relate to [Cedric Joe’s]’s Dom, who’s much more interested in creating games than playing them. When Dom’s tech skills draw the attention of a CGI humanoid named Al G Rhythm (Don Cheadle), the father-son duo get sucked into the Warner 3000 entertainment ‘Server-verse,’ with the A.I. kidnapping Dom in the hopes of stealing some of the King’s followers (IRL he has about 80 million on Instagram).”
Al G Rythm. Please say that a few times out loud before reading the rest of this post. Get it? It sounds like algorithm. Hilarious.
It appears that the folks working on this new Space Jam film have accidentally gone and made a Tron parody instead. Oops! As a fan of Tron, I’m down with that. But will this oddball story satisfy the hopes and dreams of Space Jam fans who’ve been waiting 24 years since the original animated/live-action hybrid film was released? I’m not sure, but this movie seemed like it was never going to happen not that long ago, so folks might take what they can get.
(And yes, Space Jam was released 24 years ago. I’m sorry.)
But wait, there’s more! According to EW, on his journey to escape the WB3000 Entertainment Server-verse, LeBron James will bounce around some famous movies. Titles listed in the article include Casablanca, Matrix, and Mad Max. According to reports from last year, it also seems like the evil murder-clown from It as well as some version of The Joker from Batman will be appearing in the film too. I don’t think he’s going to be wearing a crown of thorns like Jesus, but it’s possible.
Like the original film, this new Space Jam will also feature a big basketball game and for some reason, the original villains from the first film, the Goon Squad aliens, are back too. Why? I don’t know. The EW story doesn’t give a reason either. I find it odd that Al G Rhythm is holding a basketball game. I’m not sure why the Looney Tunes characters are involved again and I’m confused how winning this game will ultimately free LeBron James from the VR nightmare that is the Server-verse. But also who cares. This is a movie that stars a literal algorithm as a character. Fucking whatever. It, like all the other WB movies released this year, will be on HBO Max at no extra cost and I’ll watch it.
In the meantime, I can always peruse the original ‘90s Space Jam website that is still up and running. Space Jam: A New Legacy is out July 15, 2021 in Australia.
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