The Lasting Legacy Of Space Jam | TheRichest.com
Anyone around during the '90s can easily recall the undeniable phenomenon of the original Space Jam. The cultural sensation took the world by storm as one of America's greatest and most beloved sportsmen, Michael Jordan took to the big screen and entered the animated world Looney Toons.
The movie was a huge hit, racking in a stunning $250 million in the box office. With the remake seeing new billionaire status, basketballer Lebron James taking center stage, it's only right to look back on the legacy of this massive movie franchise.
Did you know that the concept for the 1996 Space Jam came from a commercial?
That's right! Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny first met during a Nike commercial called "Hare Jordan" where the iconic rabbit and the basketball legend took it to the court to see who had better hops. The commercial was aired during the twenty sixth Super Bowl. The clip's positive reception gave Jordan's agent David Falk a pretty bright idea. Falk saw a movie just waiting to happen.
He pitched the idea for Space Jam to Warner Bros., who just so happened to be looking for the next big box office hit to revamp their Looney Toons franchise.
The film was beyond ambitious as the first of its kind to bring a real life sports legend into the world of animation. The movie was also one of the earliest examples of digital technology being used by an animation studio. About 150 animators were hired by media company Cinesite to bring the magical world to life. Sat at the director's chair was Joe Pytka, the man behind Let it Ride and the Beatles' music video for Free as a Bird. Pytka was a instrumental figure in Space Jam's earliest stages, seeing as how he also directed the commercial which sparked inspiration for the film.
It takes a great deal of adjustments and rewrites of a script before a motion picture is viewed by the general public. Fun fact: Spike Lee was actually in talks to spruce up the original Space Jam script. Though Pytka had no objections, Warner Bros. wasn't so sure.
"Spike Lee is a friend of mine and he approached me to do a polish on the script. I thought that Spike would have added some stuff that would have been cooler," the director tells Entertainment Weekly, "but Warner Bros. didn’t want to deal with him because of their issues with him when they did Malcolm X together. Remember, Spike got his friends to put money into finishing Malcolm X and the corporation hated the fact that he did that."
Jordan was more than pleased to make his big screen debut, but only under one caveat: the production phase couldn't interfere or overlap with the next basketball season in which he was set to make his return to the Chicago Bulls. This ultimately wasn't a problem, but that's not to say that filming the feature wasn't a full time job in itself.
The basketball legend turned novice actor received a great deal of assistance and assurance in his performance from comedian and actor T.K Carter. Pytka brought Carter on set to help Jordan remember his lines and beef up his acting chops.
Between shooting scenes alongside green suit adorning stand ins and shooting hoops with Pytka in a basketball court made specifically for him, Jordan stayed on set to film Space Jam for ten whole months of production.
"He did as well as he could do. He played himself, and remember, a lot of the film is based on his life, so there were realistic references there," Pytka boasts about the All Star's performance, "He was very professional — he showed up, he knew his lines, we made it as easy as possible."
When the film was finally ready to hit the big screen in November 1996, it was met with sensational reviews. It took the movie world by storm, ranking #1 in the box office in its opening weekend. According to the The Numbers, Space Jam garnished an impressive $27 million when it first hit theatres and went on to gross $250 million worldwide.
When a production company's been sitting on a worldwide sensation for as long as Warner Bros. had, it's only right that they pump out a sequel to bring in those nostalgic hungry movie goers . Thus, Space Jam: A New Legacy was born.
While the follow-up film to the widely acclaimed franchise came out earlier this month, this wasn't the first time a sequel was in the works.
In fact, a sequel was said to be in the works right after the instant success of its predecessor. Warner Bros. was on board to produce the sequel back in 1997 with Pytka retuning to direct it. Though everything feel apart when a producer (who's name will likely forever remain a mystery) mislead Warner Bros. to believe that Jordan had signed up to appear in the film. When word got back to the studio that Jordan was actually not willing to be part in the sequel, they canned the film only weeks into the pre-production phase.
"I felt the whole point of it was – like a lot of sequels – just to cash in on the success of the original," animator tied to the production Bob Camp told Animation Views ,"It wasn’t like it was a great idea that people wanted to make a movie out of. It was just, ‘Hey, Michael Jordan is a cash cow! Let’s milk him for all we can."
A number of subsequent sequel ideas were thrown around - from a spy flick featuring Jackie Chan to a racing movie with Jeff Gordon. Though they were all thrown to way side and Warner Bros. chose to produce the poorly received Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003.
Eventually the idea for a Space Jam sequel was brought back to the table in 2014. The star of the film: none other than Lebron James.
The film was set to be produced by James's production company SpringHill Company. Fast and Furious director Justin Lin was the initial to director, but he left the project and was replaced by Terrance Nance in 2018 due to creative differences with the studio.
Nance would eventually leave the production as well almost a month after the filming process commenced in 2019. He was followed by the film cinematographer Bradford Young who left just a bit after Nance.
Maybe the rounds of musical chairs behind the scenes was what ultimately made Space Jam 2: A New Legacy objectively less successful than its sensational predecessor. While the original film was undoubtedly a smash hit, the sequel just didn't mesh well with critics and movie goes alike.
According to Variety, the sequel and the MCU's Black Widow shared a grim fate in their second week at the box office, dropping 70% in ticket sales.
Before the film came out, Pytka was staunchly against the idea of a remake. When it was finally released, he took to TMZ to express his feeling about the picture. It wasn't the most glowing review to say the least:
"The truth is that LeBron ain't Michael."
Sources: Mental Floss, Entertainment Weekly, Animation Views, Variety, TMZ
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