Space Jam (film)
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- This article is about the film. For other uses, see Space Jam.
| Space Jam | |
|---|---|
 Two captains. One destiny. | |
| Production company | Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner Bros. Animation |
| Release date | November 15, 1996 |
| Run time | 1:27:20 |
| Starring | Micheal Jordan Wayne Knight Theresa Randle Charles Barkley Muggsy Bogues Shawn Bradley Patrick Ewing Larry Johnson |
| Executive producer(s) | David Falk Ken Ross |
| Producer(s) | Joe Meduck Daniel Goldberg Ivan Reitman |
| Music composed by | James Newton Howard |
| Screenplay by | Leo Benvenuti Steve Rudnick Timothy Harris Herschel Weingrod |
| Director(s) | Joe Pytka |
| Art director(s) | Tyler Haron |
| Title card | |
| |
Space Jam is an American live-action/2-D animated basketball comedy film based on the Looney Tunes theatrical shorts from 1930 to 1969. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures (under its Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label) in theaters on November 15, 1996. It was written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel Weingrod, produced by Joe Medjuck, Daniel Goldberg, and Ivan Reitman, and directed by Joe Pytka.
Detailed summary
Memorable quotes
Bugs: Well, that's all folks!
Porky: B-b-but that's my line. Th-th-th-th-th-...
Daffy: Stand aside, Babe! Let a star do this! THAT'S ALL-! (Gets knocked out of the iris)
Nerdlucks: That's all Folks!
(Michael lifts up the rings)
Michael: Can I go home now?
Characters
Organizations
- Barons
- Stars
- Cyclones
- New York Knicks
- Phoenix Suns
- Charlotte Hornets
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Monstars
- Tune Squad
Locations
- The Moon
- Earth
- United States
- Barons Field
- Piggly Wiggly
- Looney Tune Land
- North Carolina
- New York
- Arizona (indirectly mentioned)
- Phoenix (mentioned)
- California
- Birmingham Pines Country Club
- Overland State Hospital
- Chicago (mentioned)
- Australia (mentioned)
- United States
- Moron Mountain
Objects
Vehicles
- Nerdlucks' spaceship
- Stan's car
- Bugs's scooter
Production
Development
The origins of a team-up between Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny began in a 1992 commercial for Nike's Air Jordan.
Filming
Music
The music was composed by James Newton Howard.
Songs
- "I Believe I Can Fly"
- "Space Jam"
- "Gonna Make Everyone Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
- "Upside Down ('Round-N-'Round)"
- "Fly Like An Eagle"
- "Hit 'Em High (The Monstars' Anthem)"
- "Pump Up the Jam"
- "For You I Will"
- "I Turn to You"
- "Buggin'"
Crew credits
- Casting directors: Jane Jenkins, Janet Hirshenson
- Costume designer: Marlene Stewart
- Co-producers: Gordon Webb, Sheldon Khan, Curtis Polk
- Animation producers: Ron Tippe, Jerry Rees, Steven Paul Leiva
- Live action/Animation visual effects supervisor: Ed Jones
- Editor: Sheldon Khan
- Production designer: Geoffrey Kirkland
- Director of photography: Michael Chapman
- Executive producers: David Falk, Ken Ross
- Unit production manager: Gordon Webb
- First assistant director: Austin McCann
- Second assistant director: Pamela Cederquist
- Directors of animation: Bruce W. Smith, Tony Cervone
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: November 15, 1996
Behind the scenes
- Schlesinger Gym is named after Leon Schlesinger, who founded Warner Bros. Cartoons, the precursor to Warner Bros. Animation.
- Daffy calls Charles (the Jordans' dog) Beethoven, a reference to the fictional dog and titular character of the 1992 film Beethoven, and its 1993 sequel Beethoven's 2nd.
- Daffy wants to name the Looney Tunes' basketball team the Ducks, which Bugs mocks for sounding like "a Mickey Mouse organization's choice." Bugs' comment is not only a reference to the Walt Disney Company's mascot, but also a reference to the Mighty Ducks, the hockey team in the 90s film series of the same name, which inspired a real life NHL Mighty Ducks team Disney owned until 2005 when they sold the team off.
- One of the players at the Forum likens what is happening to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a film originally made in 1956 and remade in 1978. Incidentally, the next live-action movie, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, had a cameo of Kevin McCarthy in his role of Doctor Miles Bennell from the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
- When Sam and Elmer shoot the teeth out of Bupkus, they are dressed in black suits and sunglasses to resemble Vincent and Jules from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
- When Bill Murray shows up at Schlesinger Gym, Swackhammer confuses him with Dan Aykroyd, which is an in-joke to them costarring in the 1984 film Ghostbusters, and again in the 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters 2.
- Bill Murray breaks the fourth wall by saying he got to the game by one of the film's producers, who is a friend of his, and arranging for Murray to be dropped off.
Errors
- There are many Looney Tunes characters, but not enough to fill out the bleachers at the big game between the Tune Squad and Monstars, which is rectified by spreading the same ones throughout the entire stadium, with the animators hoping nobody catches on.
Marketing and promotion
A website made to promote the film, www.spacejam.com, was created in 1996 and was one of the earliest film promotion websites. It remained unchanged for over 25 years before the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy, unusual for film promotion sites of its time. While the site's content had been moved under Warner Bros.'s site around 2003, its design gained a resurgence around 2010 as an historical artifact of the early days of the web, and Warner Bros. returned the site to the spacejam.com address in response.[1] Following the release of A New Legacy's first trailer, the website was revamped to promote the new film, although the site's original contents were moved to a seperate landing page.[2]
Legacy
- In the Animaniacs episode segment "Back in Style," Variety reports "WB Plans Pic Teaming Jordan [and] Looney Tunes." Michael Jordan then appears in a non-speaking animated cameo in the episode "Hooray For North Hollywood Part 2."
- Several sequels were to follow Space Jam, with the only one having real progress being Spy Jam with Jackie Chan. But don't worry, because Jackie Chan has been in several spy-themed movies since that time.
- Joe Dante, director of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, was not a fan of Space Jam and set to make a more faithful adaptation. However, Warner Bros. intervened heavily in his involvement from beginning to end. There is a cameo of Michael Jordan in the movie via archival footage from Space Jam.
- In promoting Space Jam: A New Legacy, Cartoon Network aired the movie Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam, in which the Teen Titans watch the original film and get interrupted by the Nerdlucks.
- Space Jam: A New Legacy, the long-awaited sequel, retcons the original as just being a movie. At Warner Bros.' Burbank lot, there is a poster of the movie in the Warner 3000 meeting. When LeBron James wants Bugs's help in forming a basketball team, he says it sounds familiar, and then when Bugs tries to convince Lola to join the team by asking her how often she gets to play with an NBA superstar, to which she answers, "Been there, done that." The Monstars in their Nerdluck forms also have cameos cheering on the Goon Squad during their match against the new Toon Squad.
- Taz, Bugs, and Marvin have their Tune Squad uniforms and referee outfits, respectively, as alternative costumes in the video game MultiVersus.
In popular culture
- In the Moesha episode "Guess Q's Coming to Dinner," Hakeem said that her mother was so proud of his report card that she blew it and framed it as a poster next to the Space Jam poster at the Magic Johnson Theater where she works.
- The many attempts at sequels was spoofed in the Robot Chicken episode "Catdog on a Stick," with the segment "Welcome to the Golf Jam," which starred Tiger Woods with the lesser known animated characters owned by DIC, including Heathcliff, Street Sharks, and Mummies Alive!
- In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "The Taming of the Dads," which was made in 2016 but set in the 90s, Eddie has to go see the new Romeo & Juliet (Leonardo DiCaprio edition) with his girlfriend on their one-year anniversary, but he would rather see Space Jam.
- In The Flash episode "The One with the Nineties," Cisco and Chester have been sent back in time to 1998, where a Blockbuster advertises that it guarantees it has Space Jam in stock. Later, Chester asks Dion if he has seen Space Jam, which he says he has four times.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- "Kimmy Meets a Drunk Lady!:" Kimmy and Titus make up at the end of the episode, bonding over Art Smelly's song "I'm Convinced I Can Swim," which is part of the soundtrack to the movie Earth Jelly.
- "Kimmy Goes to Church!:" Titus believes that him deciding to sing in a church choir is his charity for the day and compares it to Michael Jordan playing basketball with a "bunch of cartoon animals." Kimmy acknowledges that he's talking about Space Jam, but Titus has no idea what she is talking about, responding, "WHAT?! What are you talking about?!"
Critical reception
In other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
Home availability
- In the United States:
- In the United Kingdom and Ireland:
Trailers
- First trailer
- Second trailer
References
- ↑ "'Space Jam' Forever: The Website That Wouldn't Die". Rolling Stone (2015). Archived from the original on April 3, 2021.
- ↑ Hollister, Sean (April 3, 2021). [https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/3/22365635/space-jam-sequel-new-legacy-first-trailer-1996-website "25 years later, Space Jam has a new website – and the first trailer for the sequel". The Verge.
