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Space Jam: A New Legacy’s trailer is gross - Vox.com

Space Jam: A New Legacy’s trailer is gross - Vox.com

Space Jam: A New Legacy’s trailer is gross - Vox.com
Apr 08, 2021 2 mins, 21 secs

The trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy underlines the dark horror that animates too much of Hollywood right now — and, honestly, too much of capitalism right now.

The upcoming film, a follow-up to the mediocre 1996 “Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters play basketball” movie that is much loved by some (for some reason), strands LeBron James in Looney Tune world, where he becomes a cartoon.

Early in the trailer, as James flies through said Serververse, he passes two planets marked with visual iconography making clear they represent Game of Thrones and The Wizard of Oz, two properties owned by WarnerMedia, the parent company of Warner Bros., which is producing Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Such a vast and random smattering of characters you might already be familiar with can feel like a giant corporation is simply vomiting up every single piece of intellectual property it has ever devoured.

Movies like Space Jam: A New Legacy seem to exist solely to show off all of the movies and TV shows owned by the corporation producing them, and frequently cheapen the story in the name of cramming in more cameos.

From a marketing standpoint, it makes sense that Space Jam: A New Legacy might feature every WarnerMedia character known to humanity?

After all, the film will debut simultaneously in movie theaters and on the company’s flagship streaming service, HBO Max, and if you get really excited about watching Game of Thrones after seeing its logo float by on a planet in Space Jam 2, it’ll be waiting right there for you to stream.

Space Jam itself was a blatant play at making the Looney Tunes gang relevant for a new generation, all the better to sell merchandise, so it’s not like a classic is being sullied.

That Space Jam is a bald commercial grab (and I don’t really mean that pejoratively) based on existing entertainment properties — the Looney Tunes, the NBA, Michael Jordan himself — also feels almost visionary.

What does a scene like this one, from Disney’s 2018 movie Ralph Breaks the Internet, add to the movie’s story or themes or character arcs.

I am not exactly trembling with anticipation for a new Space Jam movie, but its filmmakers (who include the very talented director Malcolm D. Lee, who made some terrifically observed small-scale comedies like The Best Man and Girls Trip; producer Ryan Coogler of Black Panther and Creed fame; and co-writer Terence Nance, whose TV series Random Acts of Flyness was a delight) deserve to have their movie function as something other than a gimmick or a museum.

As is, it’s easy to watch the Space Jam 2 trailer and feel like you’re strolling through a long gallery hall, with Bugs Bunny as your docent, as he periodically stops to say, “Look at all this stuff.

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