Long, long awaited comedy sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy, is currently lighting up both the big screen and the box office, and though the standalone follow-up took the better part of 25 years to come to fruition, talk has already turned to a third movie. But who could possibly live up to the likes of Michael Jordan and Lebron James? Well, director Malcolm D. Lee has a pretty solid idea…
“Dwayne Johnson would be an interesting choice. It would be different. I’m not exactly sure what his skillset would be, maybe he goes back to wrestling. That might be interesting.”
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is certainly big enough to fill the space left by the two basketball superstars, with Malcolm D. Lee even offering a quick pitch regarding the direction of Space Jam 3. So far, both movies in the franchise have focused on the Looney Tunes playing basketball, and it could be a fun change of pace to have them shift over to another sport, in this case, wrestling.
There is currently no word of a third Space Jam (though those discussions are no doubt going on behind-the-scenes), but would Lee be willing to return should the opportunity arise?
“I never say never. It’s all going to be about whether the fans respond to this positively. But I think the bar has been set so high in terms of the first one with this global iconic superstar in Michael Jordan, and now the same global iconic superstar in LeBron James, who transcends sports. Who is that next person to put into that universe? And then you’ve got to find a script and story that’s good enough to not repeat what’s been done but will capture the spirit of it and keep it going.”
Adding the box office draw The Rock to the already financially successful legacy of Space Jam would surely be a big winner, with audiences young and old likely to quickly line up to see the most electrifying man in sports entertainment throw down alongside the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Yes, Johnson seems to be in everything of late, but a good idea is a good idea.
For now, audiences are currently enjoying seeing Lebron James team up with the Looney Tunes in Space Jam: A New Legacy. Acting as a standalone sequel to the 1996 hit, the movie finds superstar LeBron James and his young son, Dom, get trapped in digital space by a rogue AI. To get home safely, LeBron teams up with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang for a high-stakes basketball game against the AI’s digitized champions of the court — a powered-up roster called the Goon Squad.
Despite the movie being mauled by critics due to its reliance on Warner Bros. properties and the perception that Space Jam: A New Legacy is nothing more than a 2-hour marketing tool, the movie achieved a $32 million opening weekend, the biggest for the studio yet during the ongoing circumstances, and has so far earned a worldwide total of $54.7 million. The harshness of many critics has even prompted Lebron James himself to respond, with the athlete simply saying “Hi Haters!” while attaching a link to the box office news alongside a grinning emoji.
Space Jam: A New Legacy is out now. This comes to us from Entertainment Weekly.
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