The year is 1996, Taiwan had its first presidential election, DVDs launched in Japan, The Spice Girls released Wannabe and the biggest movie of the year was about to drop, that’s right I am talking about Space Jam. The movie began life as a Nike commercial which saw Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny team up to play basketball wearing none other than Air Jordans. Michael Jordan’s longtime agent David Falk saw the concept as more than just a Nike commercial and felt it could be a hit on the big screen. Falk then pitched the idea to Warner Bros. who were looking to reboot the Looney Tunes franchise and Space Jam was born.
The plot of Space Jam is that of legend, Swackhammer voice by Danny Devito is looking to get his outer-space theme park Moron Mountain back to the way it used to be, after sitting on his remote with the help of his tiny assistants The Nerdlucks he decides he needs The Looney Tunes to be his new main attraction. The Nerdlucks journey to Looney Tune Land and attempt to take The Looney Tunes to Moron Mountain. The Looney Tunes refuse and challenge the Nerdlucks to a basketball game. After discovering what basketball is The Nerdlucks steal the talent of NBA players and go from tiny Nerdlucks to huge Monstars. Former NBA player and current baseball player Michael Jordan gets sucked down a golf hole into Looney Tunes Land and decides to help his new animated friends win this basketball game.
The movie had a budget of $80 million and opened earned $230 million worldwide making it the highest grossing basketball movie of all time, even topping White Men Can’t Jump and Teen Wolf. With any big franchise comes merchandise such as toys, games, bed sheets, soft toys, pyjamas and in this case Tune Squad jerseys. The merchandise from Space Jam brought over $1 billion in retail sales and let’s face it most of us own at least one piece of Space Jam merch. Space Jam even had its own website back when the internet was a pix-elated nightmare and it still exists today and is fully functioning. Space Jam also introduced a brand new Looney Tune in the form of Lola Bunny. She strutted in and showed those boys how to dunk a basketball and doesn’t want to be called “doll” in the process.
Michael Jordan is of course the star of this movie and although his acting may be wooden when he is starring alongside animated characters in a 2D land, he seems like his having fun with it. This movie is an early example of using animation in a live action film and the animation quality is very high in this movie for 1996. Many live action movies now have a mix of animated characters with real life actors such as Dumbo, Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Smurfs. Is this movie well written and featuring Oscar winning performances? No but you can’t help but love this movie, the platinum soundtrack which features amazing song, the iconic Looney Tunes characters, Michael Jordan and of course Bill Murray proving why he should be in the NBA. You can’t help but love Space Jam and 24 years later it is still resonating with its original audience and a newer audience. Space Jam is now available to stream on Netflix and I have to end this article with “That’s all Folks!”
