Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and Random Acts of Flyness creator Terence Nance will be joining NBA superstar LeBron James to bring beloved ’90s kids movie Space Jam and the Tune Squad back to the big screen, with James’ SpringHill Entertainment.
Coogler will produce and Nance will direct the reboot of 1996’s Space Jam, which originally starred Michael Jordan and an animated Bugs Bunny, while James will appear in his first starring role in a feature film since co-starring in Trainwreck.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, James shared that he was exceptionally excited to work with Coogler because of his “vision” with bringing Black Panther to the silver screen.
“The Space Jam collaboration is so much more than just me and the Looney Tunes getting together and doing this movie,” James said. “It’s so much bigger. I’d just love for kids to understand how empowered they can feel and how empowered they can be if they don’t just give up on their dreams. And I think Ryan did that for a lot of people.”
The original Space Jam is the highest grossing basketball movie of all time and featured cameos of NBA stars at the time, such as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. While a Space Jam sequel has long been talked about, Jordan had originally voiced a preference for Blake Griffin to star in a redux.
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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com