

Live, no fewer than four different LeBron James action figures were on display, presumably for future retail. At the film’s “activation” marketing session over the weekend at L.A. “It’s obviously not the same, but there’s a lot of truth in it.”īut the film is also unapologetically commercial. “It’s very much in there: You’ll see the story of him and his sons, and their relationship to basketball,” Henderson said. The careful threading of James’ real life with a scripted version of his family is something the films’ creators hope is a grounding element for a plot that will, by definition, be a little “Looney.” Those familiar with the James family will see parallels down to his three children (who have different names from their real-life counterparts but are roughly the same ages). The original film used Jordan’s first retirement as source material in the new installment, screenwriters have borrowed elements from James’ own life as a parent. All of us had that fire and that pressure to transcend what’s been done before.” “We tried to really focus to hold the mantel up high. “The first one, we knew the bar was high, so we came in with the mentality, ‘We gotta top this,’” Crane said.

as the crew worked apart during the pandemic. This movie, Crane said, felt a little like the second-ever Super Bowl for animators and artists – he estimated as many as 175 worked on the film, in locations spanning the globe from Italy, France, Canada and across the U.S. The feeling then was that animators working on the project were doing something cutting edge.
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It’s the biggest project SpringHill – which to this point has largely been associated with documentaries and limited-run series – has undertaken, but it was an inflection point for others in the film industry, too.ĭevin Crane, the animation supervisor for “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” was a college student when the original “Space Jam” was released. “I don’t think those guys were too thrilled about that,” Henderson laughed. The film itself was shot two years ago, during a long offseason that saw James and the crew wake up for early mornings, film for hours largely in front of green screens, and play pick-up games on an impromptu court that might or might not have occupied some of the parking spaces of certain Warner Bros. … These things take a long time, it’s amazing that we’re here.” “Warner Bros had long tried to make this, and LeBron and Maverick have tied to it for 10 years. “Luckily, Maverick (Carter) and I are almost more comfortable with that side of things,” he said. It’s a massive commercial undertaking that Jamal Henderson, chief content officer of James’ SpringHill Company, acknowledges is “a level up” in terms of production, but whose partnerships have a natural feel.

cinematic properties, from “The Matrix” to DC superheroes to “Game of Thrones.” The meta-driven plot will touch all corners of the Warner Bros.

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More a spiritual continuation of the 1996 movie starring Michael Jordan, James’ childhood idol-turned-legacy rival, the film’s commercial footprint will be much larger than whatever box office return it draws as the film industry makes a circumspect return after the most serious days of the COVID-19 pandemic.Īs many big names are featured on the cast list – James, Anthony Davis, Don Cheadle, Damian Lillard, Zendaya, Klay Thompson, Diana Taurasi, Nneka Ogwumike as well as the animated Looney Tunes characters – there is at least equal weight on the corporate sponsor list. 1 winner of the release of his first starring feature film, “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” which is being released in theaters and on HBO Max on Friday. The boy paused thoughtfully, before offering an uncertain answer: “LeBron?”
