LeBron James’ production company signed a development deal with Warner Bros. That would be the same Warner Bros. which extended its trademark on “Space Jam” recently. Rumors of LeBron starring in Space Jam 2 have been swirling for years. If they do it, Blake Griffin wants in.
Patrick Patterson wants the entire thing to stop.
Writing at The Players’ Tribune, the Raptors forward begs for there not to be a sequel to the Michael Jordan original.I’m a huge movie fan. Movies are a big part of my life. This summer I even had the opportunity to help cover the Toronto International Film Festival for the CBC. So please know that I don’t say this lightly: The original Space Jam is the perfect movie. The. Perfect. Movie. It is a cinematic experience.
And that’s why, for the sake of preserving its greatness, we must never try to improve upon it.
To make a sequel to Space Jam would be like trying to paint the Mona Lisa again. Sure, you can probably do it, but why the hell would you want to?
First off, not sure the realism of Renaissance art is the best comparison for Space Jam. It was more cubist Picasso at best.
But I appreciate what Patterson is saying. If someone decided to remake “Godfather II” I’d march in protest. If they decided to remake “Network” I’d... actually, that’s pretty much what the news looks like now.
Patterson’s love of Space Jam exceeds mine (he calls Bill Murray the glue guy of the film), and I respect that. But this sequel is happening, and even Patterson knows why — money. A lot of people are going to make a lot of money on this movie, even if it gets a 28% at Rotten Tomatoes. Warner Bros. is not in the business of making good movies, it’s in the business of making money through movies, and franchises go a long way down that road for studios.
Let’s just hope the take the time to get a decent script together for this. Nobody wants another Godfather III on our hands.