UPDATE: This story may be too loony to be true. ESPN's Brian Windhorst says LeBron James' publicists are denying that the sports star will be teaming up with animated characters for Space Jam 2. You can read his tweet below:
It's unclear why James' people would be able to confirm whether or not Warner Bros. is developing the movie, as that seems to be the kind of thing that only the studio would know. But there you have it. Let the "he's just scared to follow in Michael Jordan's footsteps" troll sessions begin.
The original story can be read below.
When it comes to sports stars in movies, you might think of Terry Crews, Police Academy’s Bubba Smith or even Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride. But all that noise gets completely drowned out by the greatest sports film of all time: Space Jam. Well, at least the greatest live-action/animation hybrid sports film. It’s almost unthinkable that 18 years have passed without a sequel ever making it to production, but that’s all about to change now that Warner Bros. is teaming up with brothers Charlie and Willie Ebersol – sons of longtime broadcaster and Olympics exec Dick Ebersol – to bring the world Space Jam 2. It’s no surprise that they’ll be putting the M.J.-lite superstar LeBron James front and center, presumably after his broken nose heals. Suffering succotash, this is going to be amazing!
Charlie is notable for his serious-minded and inspirational NFL Characters Unite webisodes vignette series on USA Network that centers on athletes who overcame prejudice and bullying in their youths, and his The Company production imprint will bring Willie’s script to the big screen, hopefully with a gigantic squad of NBA’s finest. While Deadline’s story doesn’t delve into what the plot will consist of, I’m betting it involves cartoon characters playing against real people. Crazy, I know. Given the brothers’ non-comedic work in the past, I’m kind of weary about what kind of humor this film will utilize, but I bet it’s going to have a lot of heart. Maybe Warner Bros. can bring The Lego Movie’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller in for some jokey punch-ups.
James, like Jordan before him, has transcended the label of "athlete" by being both a gentleman off the court and an absolute beast during game time, finally capitalizing on his endless talents by winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Miami Heat. Plus he’s got a sitcom and the NBA-themed film Ballers on the way. Will he be able to hold his own with such trained thespians as Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig? We shall see. And what about everyone else?
The first film was filled with other huge names of the day – including Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, among others – so it’ll be great to see who they bring in for this sequel. Hell, even commentators and sports analysts showed up, so there’s no need for any actual extras to be in this thing. My money is on Barkley playing every commentator in the film, using abundant make-up effects as done in The Nutty Professor. But as for actual players, we can probably expect to see such names as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitski, and possibly even James’ all-star teammate Dwyane Wade. Derrick Rose might show up if he doesn’t hurt himself tripping over camera equipment. And we can also hope for Jordan to come back in a coaching role or an underwear ad in the middle of the movie.
It’s been eleven years since the Looney Tunes bunch hit the theater for Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and it’s really time for them to return. We don’t know if this will have anything to do with the untitled project they announced in 2012 with Jenny Slate, but the more the merrier. Get your game face on and let us know in the comments who you want to see slam dunking in Foghorn Leghorn’s face.
