NBA fans expressed excitement on Saturday morning after a surprise release. Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy. The clip provided the first looks at the upcoming Space Jam sequel, as well as a cartoon version of LeBron James.
The trailer started with James talking to his son about basketball camp, prompting an argument about how the Los Angeles Lakers player never lets his son do what he wants to do. The tense interaction comes to a halt after the evil artificial intelligence played by Don Cheadle kidnaps James’ son. “The only way you are getting your son back is if you and I play a little basketball,” Cheadle’s character says in the trailer. He then sends James off to the world of Looney Tunes.
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As the trailer shows, there won’t be only characters such as Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny included. There are also glimpses of the Iron Giant, Yogi Bear, and the Flinstones, among other classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters. Even King Kong shows up to wreak some havoc.
The trailer featured multiple versions of James and provided an idea of how the film will blend real life and cartoons. He entered the server universe as a human but transformed into a cartoon when he landed in the Looney Tunes world. However, James did ultimately transform back into a human in time for the massive basketball game against the Goon Squad.
Space Jam: A New Legacy’s first trailer featured multiple easter eggs for fans wanting to hit pause on the YouTube video multiple times. One example is the list of top basketball players created by James. He wrote down Superman, Gandalf, King Kong and the Iron Giant as the best options for his team. Additionally, Pennywise the clown, a version of the Joker from 1989’s Batman and the Night King from Game of Thrones were among the fans gathered to watch the basketball game.
As the trailer shows, SpaceJam: A New Legacy will not be a simple repeat of the original film featuring Michael Jordan. A fitting example of this change is that James attempted to do the flying slam dunk made popular by the six-time NBA champion. The modern version did not work particularly well, considering that James slammed face-first into an invisible wall.
Space Jam: A New Legacy will release on July 16 in both theaters and on HBO Max. The film will star James and Cheadle alongside several classic cartoon characters, but it will also feature a wide variety of NBA. The list includes Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Draymond Green, and Kyle Kuzma. Multiple WNBA players will round out the cast, including Diana Taurasi, Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike
