Word came out of Hollywood last week that a team was being put together to make Space Jam 2, a sequel to the not really very good but loved Michael Jordan/Bugs Bunny collaboration (I suppose Warner Bros. was in there, too).
LeBron James’ name came up as attached to the project, something his people quickly shot down.
But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do it, just that there have been no discussions, LeBron told the Palm Beach Post.Q. There were conflicting reports about you starring in a Space Jam remake.
JAMES: “It’s news to me. I haven’t heard anything about it. Like I said, I’ve always loved Space Jam 1. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. If I have the opportunity, it’d be great. But that’s news to me. Obviously I don’t want to be on there with this thing on my nose [note: a reference to his currently bandaged, broken nose]. We’ll see what happens.”
Q. No one’s approached you about it?
JAMES: “I haven’t heard about it. Maybe they’ve got it in my office. I haven’t been to my office in a while.”
If you want to parse words (as my editor Sunil Joshi did), notice how LeBron says “I’ve always loved Space Jam 1?” Would you call it “1" if there wasn’t a “2" coming? You’d just call it Space Jam like the rest of us.
Also, if you think Warner Bros. is sinking money into this — bringing on people to put the project together — having not had any contact with LeBron’s people about potential interest, you are naïve. Much like NBA teams, Hollywood studios are a business and the suits are risk averse — they don’t take steps without making sure there is some interest.
That is different than LeBron signed off on the deal or even LeBron’s agent telling him much if anything. It’s more of a “if you get it together we’d love to talk about it in more detail” and you leave it at that.
Which is to say, Space Jam 2 isn’t dead. It just hasn’t been born yet.
