'Space Jam: A New Legacy' Trailer: The Looney Tunes Are Back In Action, And LeBron James Is Along For The Ride

Space Jam, the 1996 live-action/animation hybrid film starring NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes, was birthed out of a Nike ad campaign. The upcoming sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy, was seemingly birthed out of a collective nostalgia for that original movie, and the desire to give current NBA legend LeBron James a starring role to match his on-court hero. Are you ready for some Tunes versus Goons action? Because the first trailer has arrived, and you can watch it below.

Ladies and gentlemen, they've finally done it: they've made a sequel to Space Jam. Will the nostalgia for 1990s be satiated by the time the end credits roll? Probably not! And here's a horrifying thought: what if an entire generation grows up with nostalgia for Space Jam: A New Legacy, a movie in which LeBron and his son find themselves trapped in the Warner 3000 entertainment "Server-verse?" Granted, that likely won't happen – or at least, not at the same scale as the first film, since entertainment options have become exponentially fractured since 1996.

Try as it may, this film has an uphill climb ahead if it wants to capture the same level of attention as the original Space Jam. But who knows: maybe the idea of Lola Bunny hanging out with Amazons from DC's Wonder Woman movies will make enough people curious that this becomes its own big deal, even with its simultaneous HBO Max release. But hey, at least some good might emerge from all of all this chaos when LeBron screens the movie for the struggling kids at his I Promise School in Akron, Ohio.

Malcolm D.Lee directs Space Jam: A New Legacy, and you can read the official synopsis below:

When LeBron James and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.'s digitized champions on the court: a powered-up roster of professional basketball stars as you've never seen them before. It's Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life, that will redefine LeBron's bond with his son and shine a light on the power of being yourself. The ready-for-action Tunes destroy convention, supercharge their unique talents and surprise even 'King' James by playing the game their own way.

Space Jam: A New Legacy will arrive on HBO Max and in theaters on July 16, 2021.